Foraging

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Foraging is a survivalist skill and game mechanic that allows the player to search for food and resources.

Foraging skill

The foraging skill determines:

Items that can be found. The chance of finding items in different categories is determined by: area searched, occupations, traits, search focus, weather, time of the day and current month.
Search Radius while in search mode.
Available item categories in the Search Focus.
Chance of berries/mushrooms being poisonous, ItemPoisonChance + ((10 - foraging level) * 5).

Usage

Hidden items spawn and despawn (seemingly randomly) regardless of player skill or time of day.
Items are more likely to spawn on features that resemble the item category; trash on trash piles, stones on cracked parts of roads, and so on.
As a player approaches within Target Radius distance of an item which they have the requisite skill level to find, an eyeball icon will appear over their character.
Double-clicking the item icon will gather it into the inventory. Right-clicking will give the option to gather or discard the item. Additional XP is granted regardless of which option is chosen.
Remaining near the item for a short amount of time will make the item's icon appear. A small amount of XP will be granted at this point.

Investigate area & search mode

"Investigate Area" can be toggled with the spyglass icon (found above the map icon). This brings up a new overlay showing the terrain type, position of the sun in the sky, and a button for activating "Search Mode". The default hotkey for activating "Search Mode" is "END".

While Search Mode is activated, the screen will blur except for a "Target Radius" around the player which will grow as their foraging skill increases.

Search radius

Maximum Search Radius is 10 tiles.
- With bonuses, the maximum radius is 15.
Minimum Search Radius is 3 tiles. (Decreased to 1.5 tiles if the Darkness Penalty is higher than -50%)

Target Radius has various factors:

Foraging skill level
Occupation
Traits
Movement
Weather
- Weather Effect * (100% - (Trait/ProfessionEffectReduction% added together))
- Mushrooms, fish bait, medicinal plants, and wild plants are more likely to appear during rain, after rain, and at night.
- Insects are more likely to appear at night.
- Medicinal plants and wild plants are less likely to appear when there is snow on the ground
Darkness
- Darkness Effect * (100% - (Trait/ProfessionEffectReduction% added together))
- When Darkness Effect reaches 50%, new items cannot be spotted.
Moodle (see below)

Herbalist trait/magazine

The Herbalist Trait/Magazine grants the ability to detect the poison of berries and mushrooms and allows the crafting of poultices from medicinal plants.

Character bonuses

Characters with certain skills and occupations can spot some types of items from further away than others. For example, the fitness instructor has a 25% bonus to finding junk food. This means if the foraging level, location, and light level give the fitness instructor a search radius of 8, the fitness instructor will be able to find junk food at a distance of 10 (8 * 125% = 10).

Impact of various factors

Foraging skill

Each level increases the radius by 0.7 tiles.

Occupation

Icon	Name	Points
	Veteran	-8	-	+1.75	33%	15%	5%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	-	20%	-	50%	-	5%	-	-	-
	Burger Flipper	2	-	-	-	-	5%	-	-	5%	15%	-	-	-	-	30%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Burglar	-6	-	-	5%	15%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	10%	-	-	10%	10%
	Carpenter	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	30%	-
	Chef	-4	-	-	-	-	10%	-	-	20%	50%	-	-	-	15%	15%	15%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Farmer	-4	-	+1.5	33%	10%	10%	-	-	-	-	50%	10%	10%	5%	5%	5%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Park Ranger	-4	2	+2	33%	15%	10%	-	-	20%	10%	-	-	-	50%	-	75%	-	-	-	10%	-	5%	5%
	Lumberjack	0	-	+1.25	33%	15%	-	-	-	-	20%	-	-	-	5%	-	5%	-	-	-	-	50%	-	-
	Fisherman	-2	1	+1	40%	10%	-	50%	50%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Unemployed	8	-	+0.5	10%	5%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5%	10%	5%	-	-	-	-	-	10%	10%
	Doctor	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	40%	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Nurse	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	40%	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Fitness Instructor	-6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5%	25%	15%	5%	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Repairman	-4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	33%	33%
	Mechanic	-4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	33%	33%
	Electrician	-4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20%	20%
	Engineer	-4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	10%
	Metalworker	-6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	10%
	Construction Worker	-2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	10%
	Security Guard	-2	-	-	5%	10%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	10%	-	-	10%	10%
	Police Officer	-4	-	-	5%	10%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10%	10%	-	-	10%	10%
	Fire Officer	0	-	-	5%	10%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20%	10%	-

Positive traits

Name	Points
Cat's Eyes	-2	+0.4	-	20%
Outdoorsman	-2	+0.4	13%	5%
Gardener	-4	+0.4	13%	-
Lucky	-4	+1	-	-
Nutritionist	-4	+0.2	-	-
Cook	-6	+0.2*	-	-
Eagle Eyed	-6	+1	-	-
Former Scout	-6	+0.7	13%	3%
Herbalist	-6	+0.2	-	-
Hiker	-6	+0.7	13%	3%
Hunter	-8	+0.5	13%	5%

*Cook trait is currently broken and bonuses are not applied.

Negative traits

Name	Points
Short Sighted	+2	-2
Agoraphobic	+4	-1.5
Unlucky	+4	-1

The malus from Short Sighted can be removed by wearing glasses or reading glasses, although the 2.5% penalty from wearing them still remains.

Movement type

Movement type	Multiplier
Aim	+33%
Sneak	+10%
Walk	0%
Sprint/Run/Sneak run*	-100%

*Sprinting/Running after a certain amount of time will automatically disable Search Mode.

Moodles

Icon	Moodle	Effect in extreme cases
	Hungry	Up to +50% (for food items only)
	Endurance Tired Fear	Up to -75% Takes the worst of the three.
	Panic Stressed	Up to -95% Takes the worse of the two.
	Pain Drunk Has a cold Sick	Up to -95% Takes the worst of the four.

Weather & darkness

	Maximum effect in extreme cases
Weather (rain, snow, fog)	-75%
Darkness	-95% (if higher than -50%, cannot "spot" new items, and minimum Search Radius becomes 1.5, instead of 3)

Having an Umbrella equipped will reduce the rain penalty by 90%.
Having an item that produces light (lighter, lit candle, hand torch, flashlight) will negate the darkness effect.

Some items have modified chances if it rains, after it rains, if it snows, or if it is night time or day time. See the table below:

Item/Category	Bonus if it rains	Bonus after it rains	Bonus if it snows	Bonus at night time	Bonus at day time
Stones	None	None	-50	None	None
Berries	None	None	-10	None	None
Mushrooms	+35	+50	None	+20	None
Fish Bait	+50	+50	None	+100	None
Medicinal Plants	+50	+25	-50	+100	None
Wild Plants	+50	+25	-50	+50	None
Wild Herbs	+50	+25	-50	+50	None
Fruits	None	None	-10 -20 (Watermelon) -100 (Banana)	None	None
Vegetables	None	None	from -10 up to -50 depending on the vegetable	None	None
Sunflower Seeds	-50	None	-100	-100	None
Rosehips	+20	None	-100	None	None
Eggs & Wild Eggs	-20	None	-20	None	None
Worm	+100	None	-100	+50	-50
Frog, Slug, Snail	+100	None	-100	-50	+50
Dead Animals	-10	None	-10	None	None
Insects	+10 +20 (Grasshopper) +50 (Cricket)	None	-20	+200	None

Clothing

Type of clothing	Penalty (Search Radius)
Items completely covering the head, face and eyes	-75%
Items covering the face and eyes but not the head	-50%
Items covering the face but not the eyes	-20%
Items covering one or both eyes (glasses, eyepatches…)	-2.5%

Additionally, the sum of all these Clothing Penalties cannot be higher than -95%.

Seasons

Items can have a +50% chance bonus or -50% chance malus depending on the month of the year, or they can be completely unavailable.

For example:

Firewood has a +50% chance bonus during Fall. (September, October, November)
Most berries, mushrooms, vegetables, medicinal plants, wild herbs, wild plants, eggs, insects, and animals can't be found in Winter. (December, January, February)
Beauty Berries, Holly Berries and Winter Berries can only be found during Fall and Winter. (From September to March)

Nature's Abundance (Sandbox setting)

Setting	Zone Density Multiplier
Very Poor	-75%
Poor	-50%
Normal (Apocalypse, Survivor, Builder)	+0%
Abundant	+50%
Very Abundant (Six Months Later, Initial Infection, Winter Is Coming, A Really CD DA^[1])	+100%

Items

Main article: Foraging items

The foraging skill determines what types of items can be found. Most items can be found in all locations, however there are several categories of items that can be found which affects where they appear and how easy they are to find. For example, vegetables are more likely to appear in farmland areas, stones appear more often in roads, and trash is more likely to appear in trailer parks and city zones. Not all items in a category are equally likely to actually appear when an item from that category is selected. See below for more specific information.

Item	Level	Description
Berries	0	Appear in groups of 2-8. As foraging level rises, more varieties can appear and berries are less likely to be poisonous. Characters can identify poisonous berries by starting with the herbalist trait or reading the herbalist magazine. Blackberry , Blueberry , Winter Berry and Beautyberry are never poisonous. Holly Berry will always be poisonous. Poison Ivy Berry , oddly, can be sometimes be not poisonous. Berries that are randomly poisonous will be set once the world if generated and don't change for this world.
Mushrooms	0	Appear in groups of 1-4. Character can identify poisonous mushrooms by starting with the herbalist trait or reading the herbalist magazine. Mushrooms are significantly more likely to be poisonous than berries, and when they are poisonous they can be up to 5 times as poisonous as berries. No mushroom appearances are always safe or always poisonous. Can be used in stew, pie, soup, sandwich, salad, roasted vegetables.
Wild Herbs	0	Appear in groups of 1-3. Herbs can be eaten for a small amount of nutrition, or added to most cooking recipes.
Wood	0	Branches and twigs appear in bunches of 1-3, while logs are always singular.
Stones	0	Used to make Crafted Spears and stone tools.
Junk	0	This category contains a wide variety of useful materials such as nails, screws, magazines, tools, and bags. The herbalist magazine is much less common to find while foraging than any other magazine, by a factor of about 20 - this is not a good way to obtain it.
Junk food	0	This category contains most kinds of nonperishable foods, such as candy, chips, and canned foods.
Clothing	0	This category contains nearly every clothing item; hats are somewhat more common than other articles of clothing, and clothing is in turn fairly more common than jewelry (including watches).
Junk weapons	0	This category is comprised of a variety of weapons, from the lowly pencil to the mighty katana. Firearms and high-end melee weapons are far less common (the highest tier pool has a ~1% chance of being selected).
Medical supplies	0	This category is made up of several objects used for healing, such as dirty bandages, ripped sheets, thread, and all types of pills.
Trash	0	This category has many kinds of trash-type objects, such as empty pop cans, balls, garbage bags and plates, as well as all weapon repair items, a few types of scrap, and cooking tools.
Bait and insects	0	Worms, crickets, grasshoppers, and cockroaches can be used as stick trap or fishing bait or food for the desperate. Caterpillars, millipedes and slugs don't work as stick trap bait as of 41.77.
Lemon grass	0	Appears in groups of 2-8. Eat to soothe bouts of food poisoning. Reduces sickness by a certain amount (12?). This will work even on outright poison foods, but only once per bout of poisoning.
Medicinal plants	0	Appear in groups of 2-8. These plants require the character have the herbalism trait or have read the herbalism magazine. Plantain aids recovery, comfrey heals broken bones, wild garlic fights infection, common mallow relieves cold symptoms, black sage relieves pain, ginseng restores endurance. Plants that treat injuries must be made into poultices to be applied to a wound, similarly to disinfectant.
Wild plants	0	Appear in groups of 3-6. Violets and sunflower seeds can be eaten for nutrition.
Wild veggies	2	Leeks, broccoli, red radishes and grape leaves may be eaten for nutrition.
Forest rarities	2	Campfire kits, tent kit, tarps, and tent pegs.
Onion	3	Onions can now be found and eaten for nutrition.
Wild fruit	4	Appear in groups of 1-4. Cherries and rosehips may be eaten for nutrition. Rosehips do not spoil.
Ammunition	4	Ammunition from a wide variety of firearms. Usually loose bullets, sometimes magazines, very rarely an entire box.
Wild plants	5	Oranges and daikon (white radishes) can be eaten for nutrition.
Dead rat	5	Can be butchered for meat.
Wild fruit	6	Lemons, limes, habaneros, and jalapenos can be eaten for nutrition.
Wild plants	7	Grapes, apple, lettuce, bell pepper, peanuts, pumpkin, and mango can be eaten for nutrition.
Wild animals	7	Frogs and dead birds can be butchered for meat.
Wild plants	8	Strawberries, grapefruits, peaches, pears, avocados, zucchini, and eggplant can be eaten for nutrition.
Eggs	8	Wild eggs and eggs can be cooked and eaten.
Dead squirrel	8	Can be butchered for meat.
Traps	8	Box traps, cage traps, crate traps, mouse traps, snare traps, and stick traps.
Forest rarities	8	Hiking bags and big hiking bags.
Wild Fruit	9	Bananas can now be found.
Wild Fruit	10	Pineapples and watermelons can now be found.
Dead rabbit	10	Can be butchered for meat.

Search Focus

As characters gain levels in foraging, they can choose a focus while searching. This increases their chance to locate items in that category (at the expense of an item in the other categories). More focuses unlock as levels increase. Not all categories are equally affected by being focused, and the bonus from focusing is dependent on level. The percentages below are the chances that any given drop is overwritten by a focused item. For items that require a higher Foraging level to find in the first place, their chance of being overwritten is divided by the level requirement to find them. Some items, like ammunition and junk, are not included in any focus category.

Focus	Level Available	Minimum Focus Bonus	Maximum Focus Bonus
Firewood	0	25%	40%
Stones	0	25%	40%
Berries	3	20%	33%
Mushrooms	3	20%	33%
Insects	4	15%	33%
Wild Herbs	4	10%	20%
Wild Plants	4	10%	20%
Trash	4	15%	25%
Animals	5	5%	15%
Crops	5	15%	33%
Medicinal Plants	6	10%	20%
Fruits	7	15%	33%

Item types and locations

Although most items can be found in most locations, the location can influence which items are available to be scavenged in a given area. Below is a list of weights for each item type by area. Note: these are not percentages.^[2]

Category Name	Deep Forest	Forest	Grasslands	Farm Land	Farm	Trailer Park	Town	Streets and Parking
Animals	15	15	25	20	20	5	5	3
Dead Animals	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	1
Berries	30	30	20	15	15	5	5	1
Fruits	15	15	15	25	25	10	5	0
Vegetables	10	10	15	15	15	5	10	0
Crops	5	5	10	25	25	5	5	0
Mushrooms	30	30	20	15	15	5	5	0
Fish Bait	10	10	15	20	20	5	5	1
Forest Rarities	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Insects	25	25	25	15	15	15	15	10
Medicinal Plants	30	30	15	15	15	0	0	0
Wild Plants	15	15	10	7	7	2	2	0
Wild Herbs	10	7.5	7.5	5	5	1.5	1.5	0
Firewood	150	150	75	35	35	10	10	15
Stones	30	30	30	30	30	15	15	120
Junk Items	3	3	3	3	3	7	7	3
Junk Food	1	1	1	3	3	5	5	1
Clothing	1	1	1	3	3	7	7	1
Junk Weapons	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	3
Ammunition	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1
Medical Items Bottle of Disinfectant Cotton Balls Alcohol Wipes	0	0	1	0	0	3	3	1
Trash	5	5	10	5	5	40	40	30

Medicinal plants

Both the Herbalist trait and magazine will allow the character to forage for medicinal plants. Medicinal plants that treat specific wounds, rather than full-body ailments, must be made into poultices and applied to the wound, while other herbs are simply eaten. A poultice can be made with a Mortar and Pestle. Medicinal plants can be discovered even before the character has the skill to select it as the Search Focus.

Item	Description
Black Sage	Provides mild pain relief. (-7 pain)
Comfrey	Aids recovery from broken bones when applied as a poultice.
Common Mallow	Eat to relieve cold and flu symptoms. (-5 cold)
Ginseng	Eat to restore endurance. (-2 endurance)
Lemongrass	Eat to soothe bouts of food poisoning. Currently, can be found by non-herbalists, and hence might not be considered a medicinal herb (bug?). (-12 sickness)
Plantain	Aids recovery from wounds when applied as a poultice.
Wild Garlic	Helps to fight against infection when applied as poultice.

Recipes

Product	Ingredients	Tools	Requirements	Workstation	XP
Campfire Materials	One of: Twigs ×1 Sheet ×1 Ripped Sheets ×1 Dirty Rag ×1 Book ×1 Magazine ×1 Newspaper ×1 Each of: Log ×2	none	none	none	0.75 Carpentry
Campfire Materials	One of: Twigs ×1 Sheet ×1 Ripped Sheets ×1 Dirty Rag ×1 Book ×1 Magazine ×1 Newspaper ×1 Each of: Plank ×3	none	none	none	0.75 Carpentry
Campfire	Campfire Materials ×1	none	none	none	none
Stake	One of: Stone Knife ×1 Hunting Knife ×1 Kitchen Knife ×1 Meat Cleaver ×1 Machete ×1 Each of: Tree Branch ×1	none	none	none	1.25 Carpentry
Stone Knife	One of: Ripped Sheets ×1 Dirty Rag ×1 Twine ×1 Each of: Tree Branch ×1 Chipped Stone ×1	none	none	none	none
Stone Axe	One of: Ripped Sheets ×1 Dirty Rag ×1 Twine ×1 Each of: Tree Branch ×1 Chipped Stone ×1	none	none	none	none
Stone Hammer	One of: Ripped Sheets ×1 Dirty Rag ×1 Twine ×1 Each of: Tree Branch ×1 Stone ×1	none	none	none	none
Crafted Spear	One of: Tree Branch ×1 Plank ×1 One of: Kitchen Knife ×1 Machete ×1 Meat Cleaver ×1 Stone Knife ×1	none	none	none	1.25 Carpentry
Splint	One of: Plank ×1 Tree Branch ×1 Sturdy Stick ×1 One of: Ripped Sheets ×1 Dirty Rag ×1	none	none	none	none
Frog Meat	One of: Kitchen Knife ×1 Hunting Knife ×1 Meat Cleaver ×1 Stone Knife ×1 Machete ×1 Each of: Frog ×1	none	none	none	2.5 Cooking
Sturdy Stick ×8	Plank ×1	Saw (tag)	none	none	none
Plank ×3	Log ×1	Saw (tag)	none	none	0.75 (0.25 above Carpentry 3) Carpentry
Mortar and Pestle	Plank ×1	Saw (tag)	Carpentry 2	none	0.25 Carpentry
Log Stack	One of: Rope ×2 Sheet Rope ×2 Each of: Log ×2	none	none	none	none
Log Stack	One of: Rope ×2 Sheet Rope ×2 Each of: Log ×3	none	none	none	none
Log Stack	One of: Rope ×2 Sheet Rope ×2 Each of: Log ×4	none	none	none	none
Log Wall	One of: Ripped Sheets ×4 Twine ×4 Rope ×2 Each of: Log ×4	Hammer (tag)	none	none	1.25 Carpentry

History

Build 41.60	Replaced foraging system with "Search Mode"
Build 41.50	Reduced fatigue due to foraging by a large amount.
Build 34	Black and blue berry can no longer be poisonous
Build 33	Randomized poisonous berries/mushrooms. Added herbalist trait and new plants complementing the skill.
Build 32.17	Fixed being able to forage above ground level. (Issue #001926)
Build 32.7	Fixed stacks of harvested plants and foraged food items not aging until the stack is expanded. (Issue #001823)
Build 32.4	Added some map zones for foraging etc. Fixed overlapping zones. (Issue #001632)
Build 31.2	Fixed calcul in the foraging action
Build 30	Foraging for food during winter will be impossible, or really hard in cold months
Build 29	Introduced, initially named Scavenge/Scavenging before being renamed to Forage/Foraging

References

↑ As indicated in "projectzomboid\media\lua\client\LastStand"
↑ As indicated in "projectzomboid\media\lua\shared\Foraging\forageDefinitions.lua"

[1] As indicated in "projectzomboid\media\lua\client\LastStand"

[2] As indicated in "projectzomboid\media\lua\shared\Foraging\forageDefinitions.lua"

[1]

[2]

Foraging skill

Usage

Investigate area & search mode

Search radius

Herbalist trait/magazine

Character bonuses

Impact of various factors

Foraging skill

Occupation

Positive traits

Negative traits

Movement type

Moodles

Weather & darkness

Clothing

Seasons

Nature's Abundance (Sandbox setting)

Items

Search Focus

Item types and locations

Medicinal plants

Recipes

History

See also

References