As always it is recommended that you create a new save with no mods after updates. Updates fix bugs and introduce new changes that may not be compatible with any older saves, especially ones older than the last patch.
How do I subscribe to the Unstable beta branch?
Right-click PZ in your Steam library. Select "Properties". Under "Game Version & Betas" select "Unstable".
FIXES
- Fixed additional cases of the game not loading where the username has non-ascii characters - Fixed animals not moving when rope is attached - Fixed GlobalModDataPacket
42.15.1 UNSTABLE HOTFIX Released
As always it is recommended that you create a new save with no mods after updates. Updates fix bugs and introduce new changes that may not be compatible with any older saves, especially ones older than the last patch.
How do I subscribe to the Unstable beta branch?
Right-click PZ in your Steam library. Select "Properties". Under "Game Version & Betas" select "Unstable".
FIXES - Fixed game not loading when the username has non-ascii characters
SOME NEW THINGS
Hello Survivors, we hope your barricades are holding strong!
Today we’re releasing Build 42.15 Unstable, and along with a big list of fixes, balancing, multiplayer stability improvements, and new items, we have two big content updates for you to wade into, with your baseball bats swinging (or axes - axes work too):
Game Mode Refresh
While players are still able to hyper-customize the settings in Project Zomboid to their liking via Custom Sandbox mode, and this is certainly still a supported and valid way to play, we know that many players want “Out of The Box” defaults that cater to their playstyles without needing to adjust settings. To that end, it has come time to refresh the Game Modes and to start to dial in balancing for a lot of the new features that have been added in Build 42. To that end, Apocalypse mode has been re-balanced to serve as the ‘Lore Canon’ game mode, while the other modes have been replaced with new versions catering to different play styles.
As Apocalypse is the ‘Canon’ mode, elements such as loot tables, animal growth cycles, crop seasons, vehicle condition, and others are focused on capturing an authentic feel of 1993 Kentucky overrun with the Undead (for example: more plentiful firearms in the world). This means that certain ‘gamey’ features such as Zombie Respawn and Zombie Pop Loot Effects have been disabled. We have also adjusted certain gameplay elements based on playtesting, such as reducing the effect of Muscle Strain and Discomfort, making fences more vulnerable to concentrated Zombie attacks, enabling firearm jamming, and more.
Outbreak is intended to cater to players who want a mode respecting players who may have limited time, while remaining challenging if you bite off more than you can chew. In general, things like non-combat skill progression, refrigerator effectiveness, animal/farming timelines, and loot density are more suited for less time-intensive playthroughs.
Extinction is meant for veteran players, while bringing Sprinters into an official game mode for the first time in Project Zomboid. Expect brutal resistance, scarcer supplies, and be prepared to be on your toes at all times. This mode is NOT recommended as your first time Zomboid experience, as it will then likely be very short.
Rising is the place for those who want a more cozy experience, so they can head out and build that perfect post-apocalyptic homestead. With less of a focus on combat, and more abundance of the building blocks for the new world, it’s up to you to put in the hard work to craft your new existence. Just don’t let your guard down, because this is still ‘How you Died.’
Each of the new Game Modes has a corresponding pre-set in Custom Sandbox for you to tweak to your liking. Expect final tuning to the various settings in the game modes based on playtesting as we move forward towards B42 Stable.
New Firearms
As many noticed in the 42.14 update, there was an Ammunition Rework to consolidate and update item types, and as many also guessed, this was in preparation for new firearms being added to the game. These new firearms are balanced to fit in with the existing set of guns (and their refreshed visuals) and complement the existing armory.
These firearms are intended to be consistent with the types of guns popular in 1993 Kentucky, and there has also been an extensive loot table rework to more properly represent the distribution of firearm types across civilian, police, and military usage. Ammo cross-compatibility is also a focus, so survivors who want an efficient loadout on loot runs should pay attention to both ammo and magazine selection.
JS-14 Rifle - A 5.56x45mm rifle fed from a twenty-round magazine, and utilizing a scaled-down action based on the M1A Rifle, the JS-14 is extremely popular among civilians, and also used by some police and corrections agencies. It is robust and lightweight, although not well known for its accuracy.
JS-3T Tactical Shotgun - Often referred to as a “Riot Gun,” this 12 Gauge shotgun is the police model of the ubiquitous JS-2000 Shotgun, featuring a higher capacity with increased weight. Extensively used by police as heavy firepower for patrol officers, it is also utilized by the military for breaching and close-combat situations.
L92 Carbine - First designed in 1892, the tried-and true lever action has been a favorite of Americans since it was first introduced. The L92 is a modernized version introduced in the 1950’s, firing the smokeless .357 Magnum cartridge, rather than the original obsolete cartridge variants.
L94 Rifle - A classic “deer rifle,” the L94 and its .30-30 cartridge is one of the most famous and popular hunting and ranch rifles of all time. While the rimmed cartridge has seen limited adoption in other firearms, the L94 provides a handy, accurate, and lethal package.
MSR7T Tactical Rifle - Built on the ubiquitous short-action 788 receiver in 7.62x51mm, the MSR7T is specialized for police and military use, with an accurized barrel and heavy stock. While somewhat bulky, it is the preferred choice when long-range precise shots are required.
Trapper Carbine - Developed in the 1980’s, the Trapper Carbine was intended to provide a cost-effective, handy, versatile carbine for camping and wilderness use. Sharing the popular .45 ACP ammo and magazines with the 1911 pistol, the Trapper provides a compact weapon for mid-range use, although it has a reputation of being somewhat unreliable.
And More!
Gameplay updates include a new gamepad firearm aiming system for better controller support, reduced durability impacts when using tools for their intended purpose, adjusted light cones to more properly represent different lights/flashlights, “And More!” The full Update Notes can be found HERE, detailing more new features, balancing changes, and LOTS of fixes for both Single and Multiplayer.
A reminder that the B42 Unstable Branch is…well…Unstable. So don’t forget to backup your save (or, as recommended, start a new one), with the knowledge that updates can and will break things. Our “Friends of the Beta” testing group has already provided a bunch of feedback on this new content, and we want to hear yours as well! You are always welcome to join our Discord discussion HERE, our forums HERE, and you can sign up for our newsletter HERE! Swing by and let us know your thoughts on the new content!
Stay strapped, friends, and avoid the things that go bump in the night.
The Indie Stone
Build 42.15.0 Unstable Released
As always it is recommended that you create a new save with no mods after updates. Updates fix bugs and introduce new changes that may not be compatible with any older saves, especially ones older than the last patch.
How do I subscribe to the Unstable beta branch?
Right-click PZ in your Steam library. Select "Properties". Under "Game Version & Betas" select "Unstable".
NEW
- New Game Mode Defaults: Game Modes have been rebalanced and updated, with all but Apocalypse and Custom Sandbox replaced with new versions. Each includes a pre-set in Custom Sandbox to view/modify all specific mode settings. Expect future adjustments based on playtesting feedback. --"Apocalypse" is intended to serve as the 'Lore Canon' game mode, representing what REALLY happened on July 9th, 1993. Core changes including removing Zombie Respawn, reduced impact of Muscle Strain and Discomfort, more realistic Animal growth rates, adjusted Loot levels, and more. --"Outbreak" is designed for players desiring an accellerated play experience, with an overal focus on less time investment for advancement. --"Extinction" is focused on a brutal hardcore experience, and is intended for veteran players who want more of a challenge. BEWARE SPRINTERS. --"Rising" is intened for players who want a little more breathing room to explore, build, and create. --"Custom Sandbox" remains to allow players to customize settings to their desired play style, and remains a 'core' and valid way to enjoy Project Zomboid.
- New Firearms (including relevant magazines, loot distributions based on rarity/appropriateness of firearms, and repair recipes) -- JS-14 Rifle - 5.56x45mm -- JS-3T Tactical Shotgun - 12 Guage -- L92 Carbine - .357 Magnum -- L94 Rifle - .30-30 -- MSR7T Tactical Rifle - 7.62x51mm -- Trapper Carbine - .45 ACP
- Character now recieves a reading speed boost when sitting. - New gun store loot story prototype at Stendo's. - Added new map symbols for animals. - Gamepad Aiming Tech prototype - Work in Progress -- Implementing basic aiming reticle handling for Gamepad aiming. Uses aim axis to place target reticle relative to player. -- Added reticle slow-down when over active target for more precise targeting. - Added option to toggle Livestock Zone visual overlay on/off - Shift + Click allows user to select multiple items in workstation menus - Renamed Game Option "Pause when focus is lost" to be more clear, enabled by default on new game installs.
- New SFX for Large Containers: -- Small Metal Door -- Clothes Rack -- Carboard and CardboardLarge
BALANCE
- Tool Usage Balance Changes -- Removed tool requirements from several tiles when picking them up -- Removed tool degradation for screwdrivers in electrical-related recipes -- Reduced the durability drain on tools designed to chop trees, when chopping trees -- Garden hoes now have the ability to remove stumps
- Loot Table Updates: -- Updated missing Distributions Entries & Incorrect Roomdefs -- Added 'policeswat', 'prisonlocker' and 'swatlocker' roomdefs. Removed forced merge for 'policestorage' and 'policegunstorage' -- Added GunStoreAmmunition to military lockers in gun stores. Added 'metalfabrication' and 'metalfabricationstorage' roomdefs. Added CrateMetalBars and CrateMetalPipes to 'metalshop' and 'metalshipping' -- Added 'sewingfactory' roomdef. Added fabric rolls to sewingstore. Added CrateWallpaper to crates and cardboard boxes in furniture store storage. -- Added ButcherFish to seafoodkitchen display counters. -- Integrated new firearms into the loot lists. Added 'gunStorage' modifier to containers to ensure approropriate magazines and ammo spawn with the correct guns. Removed unused modifiers from Distributions. -- Updated maximum displaycases that can spawn items in gunstore roomdef -- Created a room definition for Music school. -- Microwaves now have ability to spawn Cup of Coffee and TV Dinner
- Decreased penlight light cone size, increased vehicle headlight light cone size - Made the head turning while sitting on furniture a bit more gradual. - Lowered the impact of animals corpses on vehicles when driving over them - Balanced inconsistent Neck Muscle Strain caused by certain sewing activities - Fluid collection properly caps at player's max carry weight - Removed ability to sleep on toilets
MP
- Optimized Animal designation zone update - Hid google auth and two factor for now, they will return in the future when fixed - Reduced the sound radius for vehicles in MP
- Multple fixes for GrappleTech -- Fixed player stuck when start/end grab corpse -- Fixed sync when login near player, that grab corpse -- Additional small fixes - Fixed melee attacks passing through zombies near vehicles and animals - Fixed multiple server-side and client-side errors - Fixed desync with clothing. Outfits weren't updating on players in different map chunks - Fixed a server crash - Fixed MaxAccountsPerUser option - Fixed the incorrect position of the remote player's character near an obstacle. Remote players would appear on wrong side of the walls - Fixed car trunk capacity not updating after receiving damage - Fixed clock alarm SFX playing endlessly if the watch was dismantled while playing the alarm. - Fixed safe-to-eat mushrooms receiving the poison tag if cooked together with poisoned one. - Fixed not being able to interact with the composter (Craftsman) - Fixed attached animal ropes, which now break like in SP. - Fixed remote player not playing HitReaction animation - Fixed disappearing dirt and blood splats on clothes when character unequipped those clothes - Fixed desync with incorrect position of the remote player's character on Z coordinate - Fixed character getting damaged when climbing up/down on the escape rope. - Fixed exception when attempting to remove graffiti with a 2-handed cleaning item - Fixed Soap not being used in MP - Fixed Propane Tank dupe - Fixed Endless magazine loading animation - Fixed food duping with .replaceOnCooked() if taken from a stove a few seconds before the cooking indicator becomes completely full. - Fixed double barrel shotgun consuming 2 rounds in one shot. - Fixed not being able to paint signs - Fixed missing pain from disinfecting wounds - Fixed not being able to pick up fallen zombie hats/glasses - Fixed floor rendering built on water tiles - Fixed items missing from zombie's corpse if they got stuck as a result of performing a backstab - Fixed cars getting stuck mid-air again - Fixed missing XP gain notification when crafting items. - Fixed not being able to saw logs via RMC context menu - Fixed damage from falling and walking through trees not syncing - Fixed firearm not racking on insert magazine - Fixed pressing the Back button while starting a host server not stopping the server - Fixed inability to set a role to the user which is not in the white list - Fixed dismantling stack of CD players consumes 2 items per action - Fixed melee weapon held on logout preventing maintenance XP gain until re-equipped - Fixed CookingSounds not playing when foods are cooked. - Fixed sfx's for walking barefoot and in shoes - Fixed Garage Doors shaking when being unlocked from inside - Fixed cooking sounds cutting out when multiple items are being cooked. - Fixed barbecue cooking sounds not playing in multiplayer. - Fixed protective gear not increasing discomfort level. - Fixed not being able to delete a user from the user list if he has a record in the user logs - Fixed server option Drop off white list after death not working - Fixed not being able to raise Fitness XP level through the Check stats panel. - Fixed character was taking feet damage when driving over broken glass barefoot - Fixed issues with in-game map shared symbols -- Translations for the shared-symbols panel are now defined -- Fixed the checkmark texture size in the Players panel. -- Private symbols no longer flicker between opaque and semi-opaque while using the Sharing tool. -- The shared-symbols panel is no longer placed overtop the legend panel. -- Fixed map symbols flickering after disconnecting from a server using shared symbols. - Fixed option “Username Disguises” - Fixed missing Maintenance XP from weapons with more than 20 .conditionLowerChanceOneIn - Fixed container put-item sounds not playing in multiplayer
FIXES
- Thank you to copiumsawsed for reporting a security vulnerability. This issue has been patched in all listed versions. - Fixed multiple RMC entries for Toilets - Fixed Ragdoll zombies flipping before getting up when being ran over - Fixed jumping zombies when shooting at them - Fixed spamming Crouch speeding up magazine reload - Fixed players getting stuck in vehicles when entering an open car door while aiming - Fixed fuel pumps resetting - Fixed TV Remotes having a 1.67% chance of returning a battery instead of a 60% chance - Fixed invisible View Cone on Mac - Fixed Caffeine Pills restoring 100% of fatigue instead of 4% - Fixed holding ALT drastically increasing gun damage - Fixed infinite shoves - Fixed Lemongrass & Ginger Root not reducing Food Sickness - Fixed getting different amount of Logs from trees in SP and MP - Fixed not being able to drop items out of car windows when the item wasn't held in main inventory - Fixed being unable to reload while the game tried to get ammo from an unequipped container in the player's inventory - Fixed error that occurred when taking Engine Parts while a Wrench was in an unequipped bag - Fixed error spam when certain actions were performed in LiveAnimationTrackEntries - Fixed error when building stairs over fire - Fixed blood splatters appearing where an animal was picked up and not where it was killed - Fixed not being able to read when "Minutes per Page" sandbox option was set to the minimum of 0.0 - Fixed brick texture overlaying shutters - Fixed being unable to click on Garage Doors when they are transparent - Fixed invisible fire / incendiary burned tiles - Fixed wrong depth map for many items, tiles and stacks of Crates - Fixed tiles with snow overlay spawning indoors - Fixed chicks only dropping heads when butchered, they now drop meat as well - Fixed tooltip stating Medium Leather Drying Rack could be used for Deer Leather - Fixed Wet Bath/Dish Towels drying in the rain - Fixed disassembled Trough parts collecting water - Fixed multiple issues with Soap consumption - Fixed multiple issues with Washing character - Fixed character repeating drinking action when selecting multiple times before the first completed - Fixed disassembling electronics in inventory giving less XP than placed ones - Fixed characters continuing to accrue Fitness / Running XP when they fell asleep while running into a bed - Fixed incorrect Random Electricity Shutoff settings - Fixed Fishing Net with Chum producing too much fish - Fixed floating barricades when a wall is destroyed - Fixed wrong window being barricaded when attempting to barricade N/W corner windows - Fixed the cutaway-wall window outline for one window not being rendered when there is both a west and north window on the same tile. - Fixed odd wall cutaway when there is only a single tile gap between buildings - Fixed being unable to build shelves/wall-mounted objects overtop player-built floors - Fixed not being able to build shelves on corner walls - Fixed Saucepans being destroyed when using the last remaining Rice to make food (ex: Sushi; Cabbage Roll) - Fixed Eggs not freezing - Fixed some Prescription Glasses not removing the foraging search radius penalty - Fixed parked cars not moving when bumping them with another car - Fixed mannequins not updating visually in raided houses - Fixed characters not having a cold in A Realy CD DA challenge - Fixed Hay Bale duplication bug - Fixed dragging a VHS tape from the floor into a VCR leaving a duplicate VHS on the ground - Fixed animal info for male Raccoons. Male raccoons shouldn't attack each other - Fixed Crafting/Building UI text not being spaced out - Fixed ZombieClawChainlinkFence, ZombieClawMetal, and ZombieClawGarageDoor sounds not playing - Fixed missing container sounds for crafted_05 small metal cabinets - Fixed looping SFX from Noise Makers - Fixed Metal Pole Fences playing incorrect SFX - Fixed Snare Traps not displaying properly on new renderer - Fixed not being able to sit on North-facing toilets - Fixed some glass were walls hiding character's model - Fixed rendering for vents - Fixed not being disassemble some pianos - Fixed being able to walk through fence to sit on Base.Mov_RedChair - Fixed small boulders blocking vision - Fixed small stones having collision - Fixed sometimes being fireproof (more to be fixed in the future) - Fixed animal skeletons in containers yielding endless bones - Fixed corpse sickness not decreasing near corpses while wearing a Gas Mask / Respirator - Fixed Gas Masks / Respirators still providing 100% corpseSicknessDefense after filters have been removed - Fixed not being able to pick up corpses when "Very Low Weight" or below - Fixed crash when killing animals with a Pipe Bomb. Note: In MP, animals are currently not receiving damage from bombs - Fixed Fire Officer using Police Officer profession icon in character creation screen - Fixed Forged Buckets not being available for Bucket Mauls due to missing "METAL_BUCKET" tag
TECHNICAL/DEBUG
- Localization clean-up. Translation files are now in json - Updated Mac and Linux libs - Fixed world context-menu error in debug mode when the debug option UI.HideDebugContextMenuOptions is enabled - Updated Console txt file. Now PC specs are always listed - Fixed hardcap for Fitness when player enabled GodMode
MODS
New modding guide/changelog. - Fixed COMMON/VERSION folders not being detected correctly in the mod directory. Game now only requires one of the two folders - Fixed mod translation, modID, client-server files check logic - Fixed translation loading order - Added translation support for mod.info (title, description) - Fixed incorrect mod file comparison between client and server - Fixed ModID, WorkshopID logic - Fixed bug with Mod null check - Fixed mod info panel - Fixed mods display menu in Pause menu - Fixed icon/poster file path for mods on Linux - Added .glb for model file watcher - Improved error message when clients are missing a mod from the server - Fixed WorkshopItem description generation, added support for 512x512 mod image preview
Press Q to Say Hi!
Hello Survivors! Christian “Serellan” Allen here, your new Design Director on Project Zomboid. As we mentioned in the December blog, 2025 was a time of big changes in the organization on Project Zomboid, bringing new leadership roles in the realms of Art, Production, and Code; and I joined the team last fall to focus on Design elements. Alongside the steady stream of updates to B42, we have been building new design pipelines, code repositories, task management systems, and all those fun “behind the curtain” game dev pipelines.
I myself have had my head down, focusing on leveling up my skill level on the inner workings of PZ’s many game systems, and so have been relatively quiet publicly. I figured that should change, so this is my introduction to you, the amazing PZ community, along with a little update on the State of The Game.
So sharpen your machetes and take some beta-blockers; let’s dive into it!
Who I Am – From Alaska to Knox Country
A little bit of my background first, not for bragging purposes, but to give some context to my new role. I grew up on a mountain overlooking Eagle River, Alaska, where my family homestead in the early 1900’s. Along with a childhood with plenty of outdoor life (trapping, hunting, chopping firewood, etc), I got into games pretty early on, with my first computer being an Apple IIe, and wrote my first game in Basic way back then. I didn’t know it at the time, but I’ve always been a game designer: rewriting board game rules, editing video game files, MacGyvering toys into games to play with my friends.
Fast forward, and after spending time in the US Marines as a Military Policeman, I started making mods for Rainbow Six, and eventually spun that into a role in the games industry. I’ve had the honor of working with amazing people on some amazing titles, starting at Red Storm on the Ghost Recon franchise, then Bungie on Halo, WB Games on movie IP’s and Middle Earth, and even spinning up my own studio focused on tactical shooters, which while not ultimately successful, taught me a huge amount of hard-learned lessons about independent game development. I then had the opportunity to apply those lessons over six years at Epic as an Evangelist, with my primary focus on mentoring indie studios transitioning onto the Unreal Engine.
Outside of games I’m a dad, husband, and active outdoorsman and shooting sports aficionado (with a focus on Cold War era-firearms). As a Marine and Alaskan, you can probably guess I’m also a bit of a prepper, delving into food storage, alternative power solutions, and bushcrafting skills.
All of this provides a foundation of real-world background that helps inform my approach to PZ design, and having an expert in firearms and experience in survival skills gives our more cultured European devs a solid resource on the coarser points of post-apocalyptic preparedness.
Of course, it should also be a given that I am a huge connoisseur of Post-Apocalyptic fiction, with a specific love of the Zombie genre.
I purchased my first copy of Project Zomboid back on May 31st, 2011. Since then I had touched base with the team several times, both to ask advice and give feedback, and played the game off and on, but in 2023 I picked up COVID on a work trip for Epic and ended up spending 5 weeks isolated in a hotel room in North Carolina. With not a lot to do, I opened up PZ again in B41.
I was instantly enamored with PZ again, racking up thousands of hours and lots and lots of dead characters in my wake, and pretty soon was making a series of mods in my spare time as a nice game design break from Unreal Engine and Fortnite. After I left Epic and was doing design consulting, Will reached out to me about providing some design feedback to the team, and the rest, as they say, is history.
My Design Philosophy
If you are familiar with TIS, you know that traditionally PZ has never had a formal “Designer,” and Design has always been credited to the team, but as the game has grown both in scope and complexity, that need became apparent.
My role is to focus on the player experience, working alongside the awesome artists, coders, QA folks, and others on the team. My focus in the short term has been identifying friction points on various UI and player-facing systems, some improvements of which you've already seen coming online, such as the revamp of the Right-Click Menu for streamlined Crafting, Barricading, and more consistent Tile and Inventory interactions.
That is informed by playing the game a lot, but of course also reading and listening to your feedback. Whether it’s on the discord, reddit, youtube, the TIS forums, and all the other channels, there is a good chance that either I am reading it directly or getting it passed on from our awesome community team, so I am VERY likely seeing that thread you are posting about Discomfort, and when you see updates in the future they are VERY likely be influenced by your feedback.
Project Zomboid is hands-down the most complicated game I have ever worked on. The amount of interconnected gameplay systems can be daunting as a developer, and challenging when changes can lead to unintended ripple effects (or just straight up bugs), but this complexity also builds the foundation that has allowed the team to create such an expansive, interconnected, customizable, and in-depth world that has allowed players to spend thousands of hours and years of IRL time delving into the world. The structural devotion to exposing the underlying systems to the community is what allows such a robust and amazing modding ecosystem and also gives the players the tools to customize their experience to play PZ the way THEY want to play.
Balance is a big focus, as often systems have been implemented to prove out the functionality, but then left to “defaults” after implementation by a coder. An example of this you will be seeing in one of our upcoming updates are balance passes on default Game Modes, and this will mean changes to the base “canon” settings, as well as new tailored pre-sets for players looking for a more hardcore mode, a more cozy style, and one respectful of players who have less gaming time available to them.
This approach applies to other upcoming content updates as well, such as Crafting/Building recipes, Skill progression, Traits, Occupations, and more. Oh, and guns. You don’t think I wasn’t going to want to add a few guns, did you? 1993 appropriate, of course.
One topic I wanted to hit on in this introduction is the term “realism,”. I know - yes, I’ve seen the memes about it, and the phrase “realism only if it makes it harder for the player” or that TIS uses realism as “an excuse.”
One of my first expectations I set internally is that while “realism” obviously informs decisions, it isn't the final deciding factor when looking at the player experience. I’ve learned with my background in tactical shooters that “realism” as a foundation: 1. Isn’t a real standard, since we are talking about video games here, and 2. Realism is a setting, not a vision.
My focus isn’t on “realism;” it’s on authenticity, consistency, and verisimilitude within the setting of the realistic world of 1993 Knox Country overrun with the undead.
Sometimes, “realism” is a good guideline, such as increasing the number of firearms existing in 1993 Kentucky, or ensuring the propane tank design is American, not European. But we also don’t want to add “realism” for realism’s sake when it’s just a pain in the butt, for example your generator pull cord randomly breaking would be realistic (mine has a few times), but doesn’t add much to the “fun.” This may seem like minor wordplay, but it is an important foundation to set.
Moving forward, one of my big priorities will be consistency across both the game world and how the player interacts with it. There are a lot of very rewarding and complex game systems in PZ, but many of those systems were developed by different people and at different times, and this has led to disparate presentations which creates frustrations for players. This will be a long-term process focusing on unifying systems, UI, terminology, and more; always keeping in mind that PZ is a game about experiencing the story of ‘How You Died.’
The State of The Game
I recognize that the community is unhappy with the length of development for B42 Unstable, and are eager for it to move into Stable so they can play long-term runs in MP and SP without fear of a save no longer working, mods being disrupted, or having to reboot servers.
Conversely, I also know that players want certain features implemented or some systems changed, updated, expanded, or fixed. And I understand that players should have several out-of-the-box polished and balanced gameplay experiences, while maintaining PZ’s unique tradition of allowing players to highly customize most aspects of the game as they choose.
All of these elements are a balancing act, and as you may have noticed, making a game this complex is not a simple challenge. Everything is generally a balance between time, quality, and depth, and oftentimes developers are making a call to try to anticipate the best possible outcome for the player with the lowest risk of breaking other features or going down a massive time-sync of implementation.
B42 Unstable launched with an extremely ambitious set of feature goals, and as those features came into contact with the community, some went well, others needed a lot more work than anticipated, and some needed major changes based on player feedback. Some new features will not end up being as fleshed out as hoped in B42 but build a foundation for future development and modding, some will necessarily be pushed to future development, and some will be streamlined based on the extensive playtesting and feedback over the past year. And of course, as we saw recently with 42.14.1, a lot of the coders are currently focused in the short term on MP bug stomping, but the ongoing balance and QOL polish is intended to benefit both SP and MP players.
I also recognize that many in the community feel that communication has dropped off. While we often hope that update notes can speak for themselves, without context that can lead to confusion for the community (‘Is this a fix, the final change, or foundational work for future expansion?’). While I don’t want to commit to a specific posting schedule, I DO want to work to provide some more of that context of where things are and where they are heading. Like me, I know that the other new(ish) Directors are excited to share their philosophy as well, so we’ll be exploring different ways to share with the community beyond blog posts and massive lists of update notes.
We are in the final charge of B42 Unstable, which means there are still a lot of bug fixes, game balancing, polish, and a bunch of new content that is in our internal pipeline awaiting final implementation and testing, but the team is working hard to Barricade the Windows and shore up the food supplies. Moving out of Unstable doesn’t mean that there will not be continued support, refactoring, modding improvements and balance for B42 in the future, just in a Stable environment.
I and the other Directors, as well as many of the team, are actively seeing your discussions, both big and small, while also PLAYING the game and experiencing many of the same blockers and frustrations as you and working to prioritise those into our production schedule.
Your feedback through the Unstable process is essential and valued, and has driven adjustments and prioritization, serving as our Cat’s Eyes as we prep for the launch of B42 Stable to the broader shambling masses. So keep it up!
Thank you for supporting this team and this project that has provided me this amazing opportunity to contribute to a game I truly love. Now let’s go stomp some Zeds.
Christian “Serellan” Allen
P.S. I’m on Twitter and BlueSky as @Serellan. Don’t expect any PZ secrets there, but feel free to give me a follow, and drop me your thoughts!
42.14.1 BETA HOTFIX Released
Note: Players who want to remain on 42.13.2 can select the "outdatedunstable" Steam Beta to continue their game.
We will be removing the "42.13.1" Beta soon. Players who wish to remain on that version of the game are recommended to make manual backups.
As always it is recommended that you create a new save with no mods after updates. Updates fix bugs and introduce new changes that may not be compatible with any older saves, especially ones older than the last patch.
How do I subscribe to the Unstable beta branch?
Right-click PZ in your Steam library. Select "Properties". Under "Game Version & Betas" select "Unstable".
SP FIXES - Fixed player getting stuck trying to leave cars - Fixed vehicles attracting zombies from far away - Fixed errors when pressing Avatar rotate buttons - Fixed being able to select "Deaf" and "Hard of Hearing" together. - Fixed not being able to drink tainted water from bottles, the option was missing from context menu
MP FIXES - Fixed error with packet of type: SyncItemFields. Exception occurred when remote player equiped weapon in hotbar. - Fixed NullPointerException error, occurred only when the Weapon Multi hit sandbox option is enabled. - Fixed muscle strain from combat not synced in multiplayer
Build 42.14.0 Unstable Released
Note: Players who want to remain on 42.13.2 can select the "outdatedunstable" Steam Beta to continue their game.
We will be removing the "42.13.1" Beta soon. Players who wish to remain on that version of the game are recommended to make manual backups.
As always it is recommended that you create a new save with no mods after updates. Updates fix bugs and introduce new changes that may not be compatible with any older saves, especially ones older than the last patch.
How do I subscribe to the Unstable beta branch?
Right-click PZ in your Steam library. Select "Properties". Under "Game Version & Betas" select "Unstable".
NEW - Players can sit on significantly more seats now, including hay bales and toilets. Updated sitting animations. - Added Dental Floss as a thread equivalent item to the game; -- base.FishingLine can be also now be used for crafts, patching and stitching alongside thread. base.PremiumFishingLine can be used for the previous usages as well as being used for crafts that require sinew thread or aramid thread. - Game Option: Enable "Resume normal speed when timed actions complete" by default - Disabled Motion Sickness trait pending health balance overhaul - Added tile-properties to more tiles - Added guns to display counters. - Tail lights now provide illumination - Added agriworker, campworker, and hunterstorage rooms to Distributions. - Added new item icons - Changed the display names of some firearm items. - Updated logos in the game
MP - Fixed melee attacks passing through zombies - Fixed being able to add more items than character's capacity allows - Fixed errors and lags caused by composters - Fixed PlayerBumpPlayer option resulting in player's freeze when enabled on server - Fixed gun magazines disappear after reloading - Fixed being unable to connect to a closed steam server with an existing account until you add a user steam ID - Fixed Server becoming unresponsive due to java.lang.StackOverflowError - Fixed autodrink bug when player was fishing - Fixed renamed containers resetting to the original name after relog - Fixed priest zombies spawning at the prison - Fixed "Siphon gasoline" consuming gasoline from the tank, but does not add anything into a small container. - Fixed exceptions on server side - New tooltip for granting perks to players - Re-implemented the option to disable War on server - Fixed BadWordFileter that was triggered by "!!" - Fixed that Discord integration didn't require admin permissions on server before - Fixed being unable to throw on the ground stack of items while in the vehicle. - Fixed passenger leaving a vehicle through the driver’s door (for the remote player) - Fixed DeadBodyAtlas - java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero - Addressed the issue with dedicated server backups, they were incomplete compared to b41 - Fixed Animal Extra Values cheat not being auto-disabled in MP game - Fixed the bug where patched holes re-appear after the player performs ISClothingExtraAction - Fixed Skill Books that are too complicated for your current skill level are read & finished instantly - Fixed microwaves bit catching fire when cooking metal objects - Fixed missing skill level increases sfx in MP - Fixed errors caused by composters in MP - Fixed Poisonous mushrooms becoming ordinary after being picked - Fixed Consolidate All for MP - Fixed corpse sickness in MP - Fixed body heat generation staying at the same value. - Fixed being unable to interact with the Hutch during the first visit - Fixed the applied bandages disappearing from the character model after relogging - Fixed exercising with Barbells quickly exhausts the player completely & provides an exceptional amount of XP - Fixed campfire illumination range doesn't correlate to remaining campfire fuel - Fixed "put chicken" in Hutch action creates a chicken duplicate in a player’s inventory - Fixed being unable to obtain the animal info through the check zone (animal zone) window - Fixed not being able to remove foods with .replaceOnCooked() after being cooked - Fixed and synchronized animal info - Fixed 64KB limit on player data in players.db - Fixed player state where player couldn't get into the vehicle - Fixed coffee machines and toasters in MP - Fixed some houses that cannot be claimed as Safehouses if they contain the following roomdefs -- `diningroom`, `sewingroom`, `office`, `emptyoutside` - Fixed incorrect name for the War tab in the server settings tab - Fixed unhappiness value not affecting the duration of actions in MP. - Fixed car trailers that spawn midair - Fixed Character’s core temperature value not changing when near a campfire - Fixed Bleach or Cleaning liquid amount not updating when performing Clean Stains. - Fixed milk quantity bug when operating the butter churn - Fixed Custom roles capabilities not saving after server restart - Fixed Admin cheats untoggled after relogging. - Fixed fish disappearance when canceling catching animation - Fixed timed actions: - Eating with an equipped mask will unequip it but will not equip it back after eating - Applying Bandages/Removing Bandages (Try queuing action - just does one at at time) - Smoking - Destroy for fuel -> All (only 1 item is used) - Make Stew/Soup out of inventory (e.g. add ingredients)
UI] - RMC Inventory menu now displays appropriate available Crafting shortcuts when all crafting requirements met - RMC Inventory "Craft" shorcut searches for all available Crafting recipes using item -- Replaces "Show Craft Recipes Used In" -- Searches for item instead of string name for cleaner return results - RMC Barricade Build shortcut added to Tile Window/Door menus when all building requirements met - RMC Inventory and Tile actions re-ordered and consolidated for priority actions - RMC Tile menus display appropriate interaction icon - Added Item Inventory Tooltip when mousing over Equipped Item UI slots or Hotbar. - When multiple inventory items are selected that can be Read, you can "Read All". - Added "Wash Vehicle" to Vehicle Radial Menu - Reorder in the debug context menu. - Updated the Media Info Panel to be bit more easy to use. (when you check the back of a VHS cover for example)
SFX - New SFX For Mineral Deposit/Stones Remove -- Added the HammerOre action animation, which plays the CraftMineralDepositHit sound instead of Hammering. - New SFX for Smash Stone/Bone/Metal - New Ambient Sound Emitters for Military Tents - New SFX for Preparing Cooking Ingredients - New Change SFX For Large Wardrobes - New Sounds for Chicken and Turkey Footsteps - Fixed Base.PenLight is missing SFX when turned off/on - Updated sound event open can with knife - New Vehicle Surface Sound Type for Railroads - Wash Clothes Anim sfx Out Of Sync When Washing All Clothes - Add New weapon sounds - Metal Pole Fences Play Incorrect Sound - Additional Sounds for Smoking - Fixed inside Vehicle Lock Trunk playing Wrong Sound - New Sound Large Container: Metal Drawer for File Cabinets
BALANCE - Increase how quickly dragged zombies are dropped - Reduced the weight of Skeleton corpses - Consolidated dismantle TV/Radio into one single recipe. - Fine tuning VehicleHit mechanics in SP/MP, for regular and Ragdoll zombies (this should fix most of odd bugs with vehicles vs regular/ragdoll zombies) -- Vehicle damage is now handled correctly in MP and SP - Corpses now dragged in correct direction. No more stream of errors when Gamepad is disconnected. - Made cardboard boxes breakable like mailboxes when player drives over them - Rename disinfectant-type "Alcohol" to "Rubbing Alcohol" - TP & Tissues are now fully consumed when used as fire fuel - Changed Discomfort to increase stress, not unhappiness - Removed recipes and items relating to the craft recipe of glazing pottery. - A new custom percentage of door opening zombies can be set in sandbox settings. -- Cognition must be set to "Random" not "Navigate and Use doors" for this. - Trifurcated Literature loot setting into “skill books,” “recipe resources” and “Other Literature” options. - Animals flee from vehicles from a further distance. - Consuming nicotine will reduce the character's hunger level. - Characters will not sharpen a held sharpenable item when trying to rotate placed items. - The Stone Wall; Stone Door Frame; and Stone Window Frame tiles now use Stone Blocks and not Stones to construct. - Characters with the Deaf trait will not accumulate stress from sounds, such as zombies banging on fences. - Characters with an encumbrance moodle in a vehicle will accumulate discomfort scaling with the severity of the moodle. - Multiple seed packets, when selected, can be read in sequence. - Added any surface craft to the RMC inventory menu with the normal craft one. - Can now do concurrent actions when opening/closing a window (same as doors) as in B41. - Zombie skeletons now weight 7 instead of 20 (like corpse) - Removed fluid container properies from Base.BakingTray, Base.BakingPan,and Base.RoastingPan - Bellows can't be removed from the forge anymore - More counters now have container properties - Removed the fluid container component from the vehicle gastanks - Ammunition rebalance -- Changed the MSR700/VarmintRifle inventory item script to use 556 rounds instead of 223. -- Replaced all references to .223 ammunition in the loot tables with 5.56 ammunition. -- Removed items for .223 ammunition: rounds, boxes, cartons and misc containers. -- Added items for new ammunition types: rounds, boxes and cartons. -- Consolidated the ammunition carton packing/unpacking recipes with a generic carton packing/unpacking recipe. -- Updated the relevant ammunition packing recipes with new ammunition items. -- The Base.Revolver item now uses .357 Magnum ammunition. -- RevolverCase2 and Bag_ProtectiveCaseSmall_Revolver2 now spawn .357 Magnum instead of .45 ammunition. -- Adjusted the weights of several firearm and ammunition box items. -- Base.Shotgun/JS2000 now has a capacity of 5+1 instead of 6+1 -- Added .357 Magnum ammunition items to the loot tables. -- Replaced references to "Bullets" in recipe text strings to "Rounds". -- Adjusted the weights of relevant ammunition carton items to be consistent with changes to ammunition box weights.
FIXES - Fixed invisible obstacle blocking player from driving along the pier - Fixed bug with max bag/trunk capacity (locked at 100) - Fixed not being able to grab corpses small rooms - Fixed undesired loot spawning when loot settings are set to "None". - Fixed vehicle and trailer teleport to north-west corner of a chunk - Fixed Ragdolls ignoring stomps! ZombieIdleState was resetting bOnFloor to FALSE before RagdollController was resetting to TRUE again. - Fixed Ragdolls gettin stuck in walls after falling from tall buildings - Fixed seated extended idles to work with seated animations -- This makes the characters extended idles now work with seated furniture seating - Fixed Premium Fishing Line only consolidating to a maximum of 90% - Fixed M14 Attachments locations - Fixed Slow Reader now excluding Fast Reader, Unfit excluding Slow Metabolism, and double clicking granted traits updating the trait lists even though no trait is removed. - Fixed not being able to dump paint buckets - Fixed an error when a character dies during build menu placement. - Fixed applying a dirty bandage to a wound, no bandage is returned when removing bandage - Fixed items being erroneously marked as Inputs for Favourited Recipes - Fixed corner store fridges not updating to show contents on new renderer when they are powered - Fixed "Hydration Pack" when worn not updating it's status until it has been re-equipped - Fixed some vegetation_farming_unhealthy_01b tiles that cannot be interacted with - Fixed depth and mapping issues in more tiles - Fixed water amount display issues for the vehicle washing dialogue. - Fixed fire not updating in meta. - Fixed some naming convention for magazines/flier/book. - Fixed holding a dead animal and checking animals in trailer causes exceptions - Fixed disassembling any electronics in the inventory gives less xp than placed ones - Fixed schematics are held incorrectly when reading - Fixed boxes of wine had "HAS_METAL" tag. - Fixed debug spawning animal spawn at your feet instead of the selected square. - Fixed reduce Vehicle Damage from Small Animals (Rabbits, Rats, & Mice) - Fixed stone-based constructions attempting to spawn a non-existent item as scrap upon disassembly. - Fixed Caffeine Pills resetting fatigue to 0. - Fixed Candy Cane pose when zeds are killed by car - Fixed exploit where "Repair Engine" percentage was calculated from all engine parts in backpacks, but only removed engine parts from main inventory - Fixed items with ItemTag.SHARPENABLE that didn't have a sharpness value, allowing infinite sharpening to grind maintenance XP. - Fixed characters that start with "Low Weight" trait will once again spawn at 70 weight instead of 80 - Fixed water shader not rendering above level zero. - Fixed falling from high buildings ragdoll zeds die in standing positions - Fixed brain tan's model - Fixed error when interacting with certain damaged plant tiles in the world - Fixed Tutorial text now referring to "Rat" instead of "Mouse" - Fixed some missing street names - Fixed double-shove animation with multiple zombies around - Fixed removing a magazine with ammo in inventory causes character to re-insert magazine - Fixed fueling Base.StepVan from the wrong side - Fixed translation error in Seed Packets description - Fixed animals not dropping on the ground when equipping items - Fixed Bloody Backpacks looted from zeds still display bloodstains after washing - Fixed error when Hovering Placement cursor for shelves over a fire tile - Fixed Keybinding modifier not working for opening Build Menu - Fixed being able to use a non-existant bait in traps. - Fixed zombies missing shove animation when shoved from behind - Fixed fanny packs not updating visual status in inventory when equipped - Fixed nutritional values not reducing when preparing food as craft recipes, only reduced in a craft recipe interaction will have their nutritional values properly adjusted. - Fixed game crashes after zombies attack an animal - Fixed not being able to kill some animals in character's inventory - Fixed Tortilla chips having Fresh tag - Fixed fuel consumption for idling engine having wrong calculation. - Fixed "can't craft" could be blank. - Fixed enabling Heater / AC in vehicles slightly reduced fuel consumption rate. - Fixed blurry save thumbnail when you're a short-sighted character without glasses - Fixed radios without a battery could be dismantled with the appropriate craft recipe - Fixed GameEntityException with mapper-placed smashed windows - Fixed not being able to transfer single items from stack into some loot containers on the ground if stack is large enough - Fixed issues when 3d placing items stored in bags - Fixed the bug where only Torch & HandTorch return inserted batteries when dismantled - Fixed wide log gate opening oddly - Fixed being able to stack up Yellow Metal Locker with other furniture - Fixed the appearance of Deer Hide rug's when facing S or E - Fixed Large window panes (eg. walls_commercial_01_100) not showing when glass has been safely removed -- The player cannot walk through these and they still behave as windows
TECHNICAL/DEBUG - Converted class IsoPropertyType to enum - Removed containers not used by our mappers from Distributions. This was previously done as a service to community mappers but is no longer practical to maintain. - Updated container contents to match local files. Currently a WIP. - Added missing IsoObjectType getter/setter - Fixed an error when trying to read at lfs pointer files. - Ported more things to lua - Converted sprite overlay styles from using a string to enums in code - Code CleanUp - Outputed version.txt on startup - Shrunk IsoDirections and fixed its usages - Refactored WeaponType AttackType Weighting to Use Float Weights Instead of Duplicate Entries - More work on AnimZed tool - Added IsoObjectChange enum to replace string for object change
42.13.2 UNSTABLE HOTFIX Released
NEW - New improved whitelist - Drying racks are functional in MP now - Updated "Announce Animal Death" message - Added a limit on the number of animals sent in a single AnimalUpdatePacket - Added Plastering in MP FIXED - Fixed ongoing issue with erroneous zombie migration. Please let us know if you spot any more cases - Fixed not being able to remove and replace battery in different devices - Fixed being able to put more items in the container than capacity allows - Fixed Favoriting recipes (Craft and Build menu) being reset after relogging - Fixed weight pointers - Fixed some performance issues with animal zones - Fixed animal pathfinding in MP - Fixed server crash caused by pipe bombs - Fixed number of visible zombies counter - Fixed SFX glitch when getting attacked by a zombie while shooting - Fixed seasoning ingredients not being displayed in tooltip - Fixed plant tile updating only after revisiting chunk or relog - Fixed not being able to remove seeded furrows - Fixed memory leak with NetworkState packets - Fixed wrong animation when unequipping an attached item on the player's back - Fixed backpack sprayer duplication - Fixed MP Soaked and Wet states - Fixed body insulation/temperature always being at 0 - Fixed disassembled furniture not disappearing from the world - Fixed weapons unequipping when character is climbing through windows - Fixed microwave/Stove timers resetting to 0 - Fixed double door sfx - Fixed not being able to get an animal corpse from the car trunk - Fixed non-lootable containers placed in doorways - Fixed NPE caused by calling getVehicleContainer() on null square - Fixed wrong items being selected and captured from stack of items - Fixed updates breaking setting the ZombieState FMOD parameter - Fixed being unable to build stairs above ground sometimes due to non-existent squares. - Fixed stair pillars not appearing on clients until reloading the area. - Fixed odd cutaway behavior of player-built stairs and support pillars. - Fixed not being able to craft Fire-Hardened Spears - Fixed character with the claustrophobic trait not panicking inside buildings - Fixed car battery looping sfx glitch - Fixed clothes drying only when picked up - Fixed door shaking animation - Fixed basement entrance disappearing after building & removing floor overtop of entrance - Fixed "Walk To" stream of errors if cursor is placed outside the bounds of a basement - Fixed rope attached to the animals not breaking - Fixed several cases with commands: AddXP and LoseXP - Fixed remote player health sync issues - Fixed bombs staying in player's inventory after relog - Fixed not being able to butcher the animal corpse in the inventory - Fixed Hitting SFX isn't always playing
42.13.1 BETA HOTFIX Released
This patch is currently available on the "42.13.1" Steam Beta and will likely land on the Unstable beta branch before the holiday break.
Instructions: Right-Click game in Steam library -> Properties -> Click “Betas” tab -> Select “42.13.1” from the Beta Participation Dropdown Menu.
MP save games from 42.13.0 will not be compatible.
FIXES
- Fixed loot not respawning in MP - Fixed severe stutters in MP sessions - Fixed server crashes caused by colliding with an animal while inside a safehouse - Fixed IsoChunk.soundList not clearing when chunks are reused, leading to zombies following players to other towns. - Fixed Nimble skill not progressing in MP - Fixed wrong multipliers being applied to skills - Fixed foraging zones not being created - Fixed Foraging XP gain being abnormally high - Fixed corpses not being transferred into containers properly in MP - Fixed extended placement of items for MP - Fixed Organized/Disorganized traits not having effect in MP - Fixed Endurance recovery speed not changing while seated - Fixed missing Wakeful, Sleepyhead, Restless Sleeper - Fixed Host Settings UI scaling issue on some resolutions - Fixed VHS/TVs not giving XP to players in MP - Fixed a desync issue when a remote player reconnects to the server, the weapon in their hands will not be displayed. - Fixed not being able to fast-forward sleep in vehicles in MP - Fixed not being able to remove servers from Favorites - Fixed not being able to sleep on the ground - Fixed disappearing animal corpses when destroying Butchering Hook - Fixed server side exception when performing “Attach Animal to Rope” - Fixed exception with weapon upgrades - Fixed an exception with drying racks (drying racks are still WIP) - Fixed exception when trying to start an engine while there is no battery installed - Fixed errors when double-clicking on empty containers in inventory - Fixed Ratchet Wrench causing error when taking Engine Parts. - Fixed animal duping in inventory after relogging - Fixed animal dupe in Livestock Trailers - Fixed dropping a heavy backpack you don't have room to carry in main inventory leaving a copy in inventory - Fixed the bug when being overencumbered, selecting the "extra option" of Worn Clothing drops a duplicate item on the ground - Fixed not being able to run over animals - Fixed animals spawn on trap check - Fixed not being able to kill a small animal while holding it in hands - Fixed animals pathfinding after being dropped to the ground - Fixed troughs not having food upon the first visit to a default livestock zone - Fixed Specific timed actions giving errors (using Dice, Card Deck, Dented Can, Unlabeled Can) - Fixed Water capacity bar locking on 1L when filling, leading to not being able to create Stews etc - Fixed character gaining the Strength XP while seated in a vehicle - Fixed Generator SFX remaining after turning it off - Fixed being unable to pick up a Generator that was dropped while entering the vehicle - Fixed not being able to place Generator and other furniture on seats in vehicles in MP - Fixed not being able to pick up some stuff from disassembled furniture - Fixed not saving the lock status on the handcraft UI - Fixed partially consumed food items still being displayed as full in the UI - Fixed padding information not updating on unequipped clothing items - Fixed disappearing favorite, unusable and unwanted tags - Fixed vehicles getting stuck in the air after collisions - Fixed zeds no longer ragdolling - Fixed zombies wanting to pathfind around fences instead of vaulting them. - Fixed "Destroy" not working for multi-tile objects - Fixed chickens disappearing in hutches after relogging - Fixed map annotations being removed after relogging - Fixed players failing to connect to Host with names that contained symbols - Fixed being able to open locked garage doors - Fixed the order of clothing layers for mod creators - Fixed a case of the Chickenpocalypse
Unstable 42 MP Released
Unstable Build 42.13, which contains multiplayer support, has been released. Merry Christmas. Ho ho ho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYKS02PYF7E
IMPORTANT NOTES
Multiplayer is WIP and has been released for stress testing.
For the best experience you are STRONGLY advised to play on whitelisted servers or in Steam co-op.
It is currently inadvisable to have more than 20 players on a server. This will be further improved.
Please do not use debug during MP games. This will impact negatively on server performance.
Please disable all mods. Even client ones.
Ragdoll functionality has been disabled in MP. This will be added in later patches.
Please be aware that future updates to the Unstable branch WILL disrupt ongoing MP games.
Saves created before Unstable 42.13 are no longer compatible. The conversion process will very likely break elements of your game. Please back up your save before continuing, after which debug could potentially be used to restore any lost items, animals, carrying capacity and player attributes.
Much has changed under the hood. Please be patient with the modding community while they update to make their mods compatible.
Information for modders on 42.13 can be found here. We are also working to provide modders with more guidance, and game code improvements, alongside future Unstable updates.
Additional balance, QOL, and game mode / feature improvements will come in future patches.
HOW TO FIND BUILD 42
Build 42 is currently on the Unstable beta for all Project Zomboid players on Steam.
To find it:
Right-Click game in Steam library -> Properties -> Click “Betas” tab -> Select “Unstable” from the Beta Participation Dropdown Menu
When it is clear that the version is stable enough, and likely after it has been hotfixed, the latest version of 42.13 will be uploaded to GOG.
PATCH NOTES
The full changelist for 42.13 outside of MP is quite long. You can find it here. Some highlights of its contents run as follows:
Improved target selection when aiming firearms.
Improved interior lighting. Barricades (except metal sheets) and Curtains allow some light to pass through them, even when vision is blocked.
Multiple Inventory-related QOL improvements including double-clicking actions, additional equipping while walking, and auto-deactivating unequipped items.
First pass of re-organization and new icons to streamline RMC interactions
Continued Crafting/Building interaction improvements
