Survival Guide

Welcome to Project Zomboid's Survival Guide article. This small guide will make a general wrap-up of the several topics covered in Project Zomboid which could aid the survival of newer player.

"Note: this guide is not the only way to play Project Zomboid, but is a generally preferred way by the PZ community. If you wish to have an original experience without the influence of a guide, then try a playthrought without a guide first, then try the guide if you are having trouble.

Note : This guide was written with version 2.0r RC2.9 0007 in mind.

Controls

First things first, new players should take a look at the Controls so you can learn how to play. The better you operate your controls, the more chances you have of making it through the day.

Map of RC2.9 and beyond

Project Zomboid's event takes place in the suburban town Muldraugh (based on real life Muldraugh, Kentucky). Currently, the main town is divided in 8 cells with vast lands of wilderness and rural areas around it. In the main town, the west is more populated than the east. There are more buildings and more enemies there but there is also more loot. The player almost always spawns in the east side, where zombies are fewer in number.

The full map as of the moment is 15 cells by 15 cells.

Pre RC2.9 Map

Project Zomboid's event takes place in Knox County. Currently, the main map is divided in 4 quadrants.

The Suburbs are located in the Northwestern quadrant. This is the very first map that was implemented in the game. This is where the game's tutorial 'Til Death Us Do Part takes place. With a huge park in the middle, it has 23 residential buildings, sheds, and commercial buildings surrounding it. The most important buildings a player should explore by mid-game is the General Store for food, the Hardware Store for important tools and the Storage Warehouse for additional canned food and supplies. The multiple sheds and cabins in the area usually have a good number of planks, and in particular, the garden shed, has 10 planks. However, this place is on the busy side, with a high zombie and NPC population density, so it isn't very suitable for a base.

The Villas are located in the Northeastern quadrant. A mostly peaceful sector containing 6 luxurious villas and a restaurant. It's also a good choice for setting up a safe-house fortress, especially the northeastern-most villa as very few zombies will follow you there, and it is easy to fortify. The villa itself contains very little zombie and NPC activity, unless you or a NPC directs the activity toward it. The restaurant should be considered a lost cause for a base, as it is WAY too close to the downtown district.

The Woods are located in the Southwestern quadrant. At the southwest part of this quadrant is a small house with a barn next to it. Setting up a safe-house here is unadvised because it is far away from food and water supplies. However, if you have a lot of supplies, feel free to settle in. The low number of zombies/NPCs and the amount of surrounding space will allow you to make a decent safe house that none of the other quadrants can support. At the northwest of this quadrant is a small woodcutter shack which happens to be close to the suburbs. It's perfect for wannabe-carpenters and woodcutters as a safe-house. Players will often find Sledgehammers and Saws in its storage crates.

The Downtown District is located in the Southeastern quadrant. Contains 2 restaurant, a warehouse, lots of shops, a gas station, a school and a number of office buildings in the middle. The downtown district is one of the busiest, bustling with zombie and NPC activity at almost all times. Because of the high amount of activity, broken windows, doors and littered corpses are common sight. Players are advised to be careful around the northwestern part of this quadrant near the city center, as there are more zombies here than in anywhere else. Because of this, it is unadvised to make a safe house here at all situations. However, the warehouse and the schools are essential for literature and tools.

The Northern Highway is an off-grid map cell which spans 3 different map cells. Following the dirt road can lead you to a large Farmhouse which contains a barn, a storage shack and a Well. Other than the barn and the two roads leading to the barns, in these different maps, it is not possible to go back into the city. Usually, walking back the way you came will just load up a new randomly generated map. Players are advised to be careful around the Villas' northern edge not to accidentally walk beyond the bounds.

Starting Out

Getting the Basics

Within minutes after creating your character, you will be thrown into the world of Muldraugh.

The Very First Day/Establishing a safehouse

The very start of a play through is perhaps the toughest part of the game. Check your inventory if you are new to the game. You probably only have a few articles of clothing on you- if you got any clothing at all. Look around your surroundings. Have you spawned in a house? If you haven't break into a house nearby (note: Look at the breaking in section below) that doesn't have too many zombies around it. If you have, close any curtains that are in the house to ensure that you remain undetected. Now you have the privacy required to start looting while trying to avoid any windows that don't have curtains. Loot the house and look around for weapons, sheets, water containers, and food- at that order, other things come last if you have the inventory space. After scavenging every nook and cranny of the house, evaluate what you have. Depending on where you spawned and how lucky you are, you may have a powerful melee weapon like an axe or a baseball bat, a mediocre stabbing weapon like a kitchen knife, or simply no weapon at all.

The next thing you should do is check if you have any sheets on your character. If you do, improvise curtains on as many uncovered windows as possible- especially those around the bedroom and the kitchen and in other important areas. If you manage to get all the windows covered and the area around your house is secure, consider making that house your safehouse or at least consider resting for the night. If you at least have all the bedroom windows covered, stay in the house for just that day and continue scavenging for sheets the next day. If none of the bedrooms have all of the windows covered, consider searching the next house for a sheet and consider staying there instead.

Once you have a house with all the windows covered, proceed to the next three steps.

Taking Care of Yourself

Your character is essentially an average everyday man. That means that he needs to eat to survive and needs to drink water to survive. If you are in a safe location and your character is thirsty, drink some water. Feed your character every time he or she gets "peckish" or "hungry" and always eat perishable food first. Sleep at about 9 or 10 PM and aim to wake up at about 7 or 8 AM when there is light outside. Organize your containers so that each container only has a specific type of item in it. The fridge should always contain cookable and perishable food. It saves a LOT of time if you are organized. If you can, save some weaker/extra weapons just in case your primary weapon loses durability.

Every now and then, your character will either get hot or cold. Take off/put on clothes on when you see this.The last thing you need is your character suffering from hypothermia/hyperthermia in a zombie apocalypse.

Leaving your safehouse is never a safe thing to do. You never know when you get a chance to get back into the safehouse. Always take some rations of food and water when leaving as well as your primary weapon. If you have a backpack, always put your less-needed items in the backpack and essentials in the primary inventory- in moments where every second is important, having to unpack something could be your undoing.

Getting Armed

Now that you have a safehouse, the next priority is a weapon. Do you have a weapon? If so, what is it? Your primary weapon should be a swinging weapon- firearms make too much noise and stabbing weapons are too risky. Look at the items section in the wiki to find an optimal weapon that suits your playing style. A secondary weapon is another weapon you should have on either yourself or in your safehouse that you can use in case your primary weapon breaks. Furthermore, you can carry a firearm with you but take care not to use it as a primary or a secondary. The firearm should only be used in special circumstances or should be a last resort weapon. Understand that using a firearm will attract zombies towards your location and understand that your firearm can fire only a limited amount of rounds before reloading. If you decide to keep a firearm, try to limit your ammo's weight to about 1-6 units (depending on your carrying capacity).

Until you have a strong primary weapon and a few reliable secondary weapons, look out for weapons when scavenging. Some weapons like the hammer can be used for other purposes as well and shouldn't be ignored even if you have a strong primary weapon.

Gathering Supplies

Depending on how much supplies (food. Once the water works fails, water as well) you managed to pull from your first few houses, you may have either a week's worth of rations or you might be hungry after your first (few) day(s) into the game. Regardless of your situation, you will inevitably run out of supplies if you decide to live off what you have. That is why you have to start gathering supplies. Things to look out for in the first few days are water containers, food, weapons, and tools. Bags are important as well since you can carry more items.

Look at the scavenging section for tips.

Encounters

When heading out for a supply run, always be prepared. Only go outside during daylight, as zombies tend to grow in numbers at night. Start your day by eating something, refilling your Water Bottle at your nearest Faucet (if the water works exists) and making sure you're not carrying too much before going out. Grab any weapon you can find in your base.

When outside, try to walk as often as possible. If you ever stumble upon a horde, you'll be able to run and dodge them without an injury of any kind. Aside from being more quiet, walking will also save up some energy for fighting without getting exhausted too fast. Every now and then, keep your eyes over your shoulder, as you never know which zombies will follow you. Holding CTRL and circling the mouse around the character will make the player look in the mouse cursor's direction, giving you the ability to spot your enemy before they even see you.

If you ever encounter a horde of zombies (let's say more than 20), then you are definitely in danger. If only 10 or less zombies spotted you, SNEAK away. But if the vast majority spotted you, RUN to your safe house (if it is safe) or to your destination. Try to run 3-10 corners so you can effectively lose the majority and make it very possible to fend off those who are still following you.

Medium sized groups (about 19-10) and small groups (9-1) can effectively be dispatched by a baseball bat or an axe, if you have a couple points in swinging. When fighting small and medium sized groups, you should use hit-and-run tactics, as zombies do not have much of an attack range, and you can keep exhaustion at bay every 1-3 zombies you kill. Make sure you keep them in single-file, or your hit-and-run tactics won't be so effective.

NPC Survivors can be encountered too, and you can chat with them or recruit them in your group. Players can stop a running NPC by pressing the Q key, which will make your character shout and attract attention from NPCs and zombies. However be advised that some NPCs are hostile and will shoot you on sight (mainly in story mode). Some NPCs will join up with you and some won't, if they don't, they will anger you. If you keep asking them (and they rejected), they will get/make you more and more angry until they want to duel you. If they join, they can be given 3 commands: "follow me", "stay here", "and guard this area". However, having them in your group will cause them to use up resources and attract attention, so it is best not to team up unless you need a distraction, PRONTO.

More adventurous players can go on supply runs using a Wheelie bin. Dragging it around will encumber you less and make your supply runs last longer. The only downside is that the player might not level up his Hauling Skill as much.

You are free to go anywhere you want, however, always try to plan where you're headed, what you'll be taking as loot and where you'll be settling in to make a safe-house.

Moodles

Throughout your adventure, not only does your character gets hungry and thirsty but can also suffer from other conditions such as anxiety or depression. These status effects, called Moodles, can be treated with varying methods from the use of consumables to just letting a wound heal depending on the character's need. In example, a Bored character can be healed by reading a Book or a Magazine. The Moodles will also display signs of injuries, which requires first aid.

For a complete list of each Moodles, their effects and how they can be treated/countered, please see the main Moodle article.

Injuries & First Aid

It's inevitable. One of these days, you'll fall down a window by accident or a zombie will bite you. Depending on which Injury you have, a certain treatment comes with it. Having Bandages and Painkillers on hand can be useful if something ever happens to you. Leaving an Injury untreated can lead to health loss and even death.

To treat a Scratch, a Bite or a Bleeding injury, apply a bandage to the wounded area. To see if you have any injuries, click the heart button and open the "health" tab, this will open the character status window. Sleeping, as well as being well fed will speed up the healing process.

For a complete list of all known injuries and how to treat them, please see the Injuries article.

Leveling Up

To see a character's skill, open the Skill tab after clicking the heart in the UI. The "skills" screen will appear and will show you how much skill points you have, which skills you have unlocked, and how far you are from unlocking a skill if you haven't. If you have a spare skill point and an unlocked skill, there will be a "+", clicking it allows you to distribute one skill point.

It is your choice what skills you need to upgrade, but do so wisely. But the lightfooted and sneaking skills are perhaps the most valuable as it is a fatal to be spotted by a zombie while trying to move stealthily.

For a complete list of each Skill, what they do and how to level them, please see the Skills article.

Crafting

With the right resources, players can mix items together to create new or better equipment. With the crafting menu, players can create food recipes, enhanced weapons and barricades to reinforce their safe-houses.

For a complete list of all crafting recipes, please see the Crafting article.

Safe-house

In a zombie apocalypse, nowhere is safe. However, that can't stop you from fortifying a safe-house of your interest. Some buildings are safer than other. The selection of a safe-house is up to you, but the northeastern villa is recommended.

Players are advised to reinforce a 2 story building with as few possible exits as possible. In case of an home invasion, you can always escape through a window using a Sheet Rope. For maximum protection and stealth, board up every windows with wooden planks and bed sheets. Make sure to barricade your front door, as NPCs can steal your stuff if you don't.

Carpenters equipped with a Sledgehammer can destroy walls, door & window frames, so if you want, you can harvest walls for extra planks. You can also make or repair structures with walls, door pieces, and window pieces. However, be warned that if you "trap" yourself within 4 Wooden Wall without a Sledgehammer in hand, you will be stuck there until you die from hunger.

If you run out of Wooden planks, use an Axe to chop down doors or trees. Chopped down doors will yield 1 or 2 wooden planks, along with door hinges and knobs. Another alternative is to chop down any tree near you. Taking down a tree will yield 1-5 Logs. Combining 1 Log with 1 Saw in the crafting menu will yield 1 Wooden plank.

Later in the game, once you have the tools and resources for larger constructions, you should seriously think about the use of wall pieces. The very first thing you should do is put a wall right in front of the front door(s). That will prevent NPCs from stealing your stuff. Then, you should put some walls around the windows to deny entrance from those. After that, you should make a maze to your back entrance to help combat efficiency when under siege. Put many doors and bottlenecks for you to retreat to when needed. Once that is done, put a catwalk around the maze, connecting it to your second floor windows, and eventually, to a secondary base or a emergency hideout if your fort is ever breached.

Please take note that constructing a safe-house will make a lot of noise, which will draw any stragglers nearby. Any carpentry jobs should be done during the day or when the outside is relatively quiet.

You can also use wheelie bins outside your doors so if you hear a break-in, you can tell which door it is because the bin has been moved for the zombie/s to knock on your door

Events

Between 0 days and 2 months after world creation, the water works will fail.

The player will no longer be able to drink out of taps and the player won't be able to fill up water bottles. It is up to the player to deal with his own water situation from this point on.

Between 0 days and 2 months after world creation, the power will fail.

Refrigerators will no longer preserve food and lights will no longer turn on. You cannot cook food either. Pretty soon, all perishable foods will go bad and you will have to survive off of your non perishable foods.

Death

A Zombie has bitten you. You've patched yourself up, but as the night sets in, you start feeling feverish, knowing all too well that the end is nigh... You'll be joining them soon...

Or maybe you've been very careful for months, all holed up in a barricaded coffin with your dwindling food and water supply. And you promised yourself to never ever take off these wooden planks off the front door... A slow death by starvation awaits you...

Whatever the case, no matter how long or how hard you try, death seems inevitable in Project Zomboid. When your character dies, the game will scroll a message from bottom to top stating how long the player survived.

Good luck out there. And remember! Aim for the head!

See Also

• Controls
• Knox County
• Crafting
• Moodles
• Skills
• Traits
• Occupation