BUILD 42 STABLE PLANS

Project Zomboid version 42.20 will be coming direct to the stable public branch Wednesday, the 29th of July.Details on what this will entail will follow after, by way of celebration, the unveiling of our new Build 42 Steam Store trailer!This has been lovingly crafted by our Art Director Ayrton, captured by Amz, been blessed with 3D renders by Werlias, and received much sound love from Matteo and the team from Arrival.Our thanks too to our voice talent Michael Billington, Gemma Acosta, Jane Perry and Stefan Ashton - all of whom knocked it out of the park.So, onto some further important details on next week's excitement.THOSE WANTING TO STAY ON 41Build 41 savegames clearly will not be compatible with Build 42.If you are a Build 41 player who wants to minimise disruption on the 42 launch, or a server owner / online player who wants to continue on Build 41, then there is already a beta channel for you (and your players) to move over to before the event.To do so: Right-click PZ in your Steam library. Select "Properties". Under "Game Versions & Betas" select "legacy41".FOR THOSE WANTING TO FINISH AN UNSTABLE 42.19 GAMEDue to additional content being added, existing saves on Unstable 42.19 will not be compatible with 42.20. To continue your Unstable game you can opt-in to the new “42.19” beta. To do so: Right-click PZ in your Steam library. Select "Properties". Under "Game Versions & Betas" select "42.19".42.20 CONTENTWe will be running a blog early next week to go over some of the new aspects that are being added into 42.20, which will be accompanied by an interview with our Art Director that MrAtomicDuck has recorded - in the same vein as the one he did with our Design Director Christian Allen.As mentioned previously, repeated here as not everyone reads every blog, the patch also addresses issues with: Character Spawns Controllers Meat yield from Butcher Hooks Vehicle Towing Zombie culling in MPGOING FORWARDAgain, this is repeated information from our last blog - so apologies for any deja-vu - but it's important that everyone knows the plan. After any necessary hot fixes are identified and released, we will begin working on a patch consisting of tweaks and adjustments based on player feedback – primarily aimed at the late game. Once hot fixing and such is over, we will be releasing both our latest mapping tools (WorldZed, TileZed, etc.) and our in-house animation editor and integration tool, AnimZed. We will also be publishing an extensive modding guide, and further looking into ways of improving the experience of the amazing Project Zomboid mod community. Community Localization work is an ongoing project, with an amazing response from players all over the world, and will continue to be patched in.Once the current iteration has been released we will be welcoming feedback on what's working for our many different nationalities who play the game, and what isn't. You will be able to provide feedback in the #localisation_feedback channel on The Official Project Zomboid Discord Server Clearly there is plenty of work ahead on the road to our future major builds, but in addition through the rest of 2026 we will also be working on a Build 42 Support Update that focuses on optimization, additional modding support, and some player-requested features and polish that didn’t quite make the Build 42 Stable cutoff.There will also be continued multiplayer and controller improvement throughout the B42 patching and support process.FINALLYOur Design Director Christian Allen recently had a long survival session with BigBadBeaver that (spoilers) ended in some unfortunate zombification.Throughout they spoke about Project Zomboid, Build 42 and Christian's thoughts and plans for the future - so it's well worth checking out the edited interview below!See y'all again on Monday! Much love xThe Indie StoneThe Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something. You can also find us on Bluesky, or on our Discord and Reddit here! If you fancy you can sign up to receive PZ blogs in your emails right here.As always, discussions regarding this update can be found pinned to the Project Zomboid Discussions Forums here.

Jul 24, 2026 - 21:19

Project Zomboid version 42.20 will be coming direct to the stable public branch Wednesday, the 29th of July.

Details on what this will entail will follow after, by way of celebration, the unveiling of our new Build 42 Steam Store trailer!

This has been lovingly crafted by our Art Director Ayrton, captured by Amz, been blessed with 3D renders by Werlias, and received much sound love from Matteo and the team from Arrival.

Our thanks too to our voice talent Michael Billington, Gemma Acosta, Jane Perry and Stefan Ashton - all of whom knocked it out of the park.

So, onto some further important details on next week's excitement.

THOSE WANTING TO STAY ON 41

Build 41 savegames clearly will not be compatible with Build 42.

If you are a Build 41 player who wants to minimise disruption on the 42 launch, or a server owner / online player who wants to continue on Build 41, then there is already a beta channel for you (and your players) to move over to before the event.

To do so:

Right-click PZ in your Steam library.
Select "Properties".
Under "Game Versions & Betas" select "legacy41".

FOR THOSE WANTING TO FINISH AN UNSTABLE 42.19 GAME

Due to additional content being added, existing saves on Unstable 42.19 will not be compatible with 42.20. To continue your Unstable game you can opt-in to the new “42.19” beta.

To do so:

Right-click PZ in your Steam library.
Select "Properties".
Under "Game Versions & Betas" select "42.19".

42.20 CONTENT

We will be running a blog early next week to go over some of the new aspects that are being added into 42.20, which will be accompanied by an interview with our Art Director that MrAtomicDuck has recorded - in the same vein as the one he did with our Design Director Christian Allen.

As mentioned previously, repeated here as not everyone reads every blog, the patch also addresses issues with:

Character Spawns
Controllers
Meat yield from Butcher Hooks
Vehicle Towing
Zombie culling in MP

GOING FORWARD

Again, this is repeated information from our last blog - so apologies for any deja-vu - but it's important that everyone knows the plan.

After any necessary hot fixes are identified and released, we will begin working on a patch consisting of tweaks and adjustments based on player feedback – primarily aimed at the late game.
Once hot fixing and such is over, we will be releasing both our latest mapping tools (WorldZed, TileZed, etc.) and our in-house animation editor and integration tool, AnimZed. We will also be publishing an extensive modding guide, and further looking into ways of improving the experience of the amazing Project Zomboid mod community.
Community Localization work is an ongoing project, with an amazing response from players all over the world, and will continue to be patched in.

Once the current iteration has been released we will be welcoming feedback on what's working for our many different nationalities who play the game, and what isn't. You will be able to provide feedback in the #localisation_feedback channel on The Official Project Zomboid Discord Server
Clearly there is plenty of work ahead on the road to our future major builds, but in addition through the rest of 2026 we will also be working on a Build 42 Support Update that focuses on optimization, additional modding support, and some player-requested features and polish that didn’t quite make the Build 42 Stable cutoff.
There will also be continued multiplayer and controller improvement throughout the B42 patching and support process.

FINALLY

Our Design Director Christian Allen recently had a long survival session with BigBadBeaver that (spoilers) ended in some unfortunate zombification.

Throughout they spoke about Project Zomboid, Build 42 and Christian's thoughts and plans for the future - so it's well worth checking out the edited interview below!

See y'all again on Monday! Much love x

The Indie Stone

The Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something. You can also find us on Bluesky, or on our Discord and Reddit here! If you fancy you can sign up to receive PZ blogs in your emails right here.

As always, discussions regarding this update can be found pinned to the Project Zomboid Discussions Forums here.

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ModCon V (24th - 26th July)

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