Patch NotesProject Zomboid42.22.2

Project Zomboid 42.22.2 Stable Released Notes (9th November 2026)

Project Zomboid 42.22.2 moves damage calculations server-side, fixes the doppelganger character issue, and adds ladder support, a crowbar mechanic for forcing locked doors and windows, and a lighter-refilling recipe.

Nathan Lees11 min read
A Project Zomboid character using a crowbar on a locked door in a dimly lit room.
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Damage calculations have been moved server-side. This addressed issues where damage was not being applied correctly. The notes thank Six for helping identify the cause of these issues. Read the official notes on Steam.

The "doppelganger character" issue, where a player's character could be "duplicated" at the edge of a chunk and potentially killed, has been fixed. The speed of server backup creation has been improved. Fixed client-side errors include players becoming stuck on "Loading Map" and a Lua error when using LootZed to refill containers. A server hang caused by the IsoGridSquare.BurnWalls interaction with multi-tile objects has been fixed. Dedicated servers freezing with "Entity is already registered" has also been fixed.

Ladder support has been added. A crowbar mechanic to force locked doors and windows has been added. Player-crafted makeshift radios no longer have randomized encumbrance values and instead use the encumbrance value of their corresponding tiles. A recipe has been added for refilling lighters using gasoline, a funnel, and a surface to put them on.

Multiple metal sawing crafting recipes have been consolidated, allowing more inputs/ingredients and reducing recipe clutter. Texture swapping has been implemented for handheld light sources. Flashlights now display appropriate "On/Off" textures on lenses to better indicate powered state.

An issue where vegetation visibility would break while entering certain player-made buildings has been fixed. Vegetation not updating with seasonal changes in real time has also been fixed. Does (female rabbits) now produce milk for their kits (baby rabbits). The "infinite animal corpses" issue in a character's inventory has been fixed. Toasters and coffee machines can no longer function without grid or generator-supplied power. Controller and Steam Deck users benefit from fixes regarding furniture rotation and brochure reading errors.

Split-screen fixes include text being doubled in the chat box. The game freezing if a player re-joins while the other split-screen character is fishing has also been fixed.

Full Patch Notes

▲ Buff▼ Nerf✓ Fix◆ Tweak

NEW

  • Added ladder support
  • Added crowbar mechanic to force locked doors and windows
  • Players will have the option to sleep disabled, with an explanatory tooltip, when subjected to an active Bad Smell moodle.
  • Player-crafted makeshift radios no longer have randomized encumbrance values and instead use the encumbrance value of their corresponding tiles. To make the makeshift walkie talkie inventory item value match that of the tile, it’s encumbrance value has been changed to 5.
  • Raccoon skulls can be used as inputs for appropriate animal skull necklace craftRecipes.
  • Added a recipe to refill lighters using gasoline and a funnel.
  • Implemented Texture Swapping for Handheld Lightsources
  • Player drops items when hand-to-hand-- If holding two heavy items, the primary is dropped.-- If holding a flashlight and a heavy item, the primary item is dropped.-- If holding two flashlights, the primary is dropped.
  • Updated localization
  • New sound effects for equipping/unequipping weapons/throwables, and ladder footsteps. Dozens of new variations here for subtle immersion improvements.
  • Added a recipe for refilling lighters using gasoline, a funnel, and a surface to put them on.
  • Updated localization.

Also New

  • New sound effects for equipping/unequipping weapons/throwables, and ladder footsteps. Dozens of new variations here for subtle immersion improvements.
  • Added a recipe for refilling lighters using gasoline, a funnel, and a surface to put them on. Updated localization.

Mapping

  • A variety of tile definition fixes.
  • Fixed certain glass windows in commercial properties not being transparent.
  • Fixed some minor inconsistencies and typos on the in-game map.
  • Fixed an issue where dirt could not be placed on townhouse.lua.
  • Put binary map files into .source (text) files.
  • Generate binary map files from .source and cache during DEV
  • Updated the biome map.
  • Updated depthmap textures.

Modding

  • Custom maps can now include Town Preview videos.

Balance

  • Fixed an issue where encumbrance values for some moveable tiles were incorrect.
  • Multiple metal sawing crafting recipes have been consolidated, allowing more inputs/ingredients and reducing recipe clutter.
  • Flashlights now display appropriate "On/Off" textures on lenses to better indicate powered state.
  • The following actions can now be taken while walking:
  • Open/close umbrella
  • Rip clothing/sheets
  • Open boxes of bullets (50, 20 sizes) and shotgun shells
  • Remove/insert battery
  • Extinguish candle/hurricane lantern
  • Remove/insert propane bottle from propane lantern
  • Add/take cigarette to/from pack
  • Player-crafted Makeshift Radios and Makeshift Walkie Talkies now have set encumbrance values based on their ‘Moveable tile’ values, versus a randomized value based on Electrical skill level.

    Multiplayer Fixes

    • Even more cheats guarded against.
    • Fixed the “doppelganger character” issue, where a player’s character could be “duplicated” at the edge of a chunk, and potentially killed.
    • A special thank you to Six for helping us identify the cause of this issue
  • Moved damage calculations server-side
    • This addressed issues where damage was not being applied correctly.
    • Another special thank you to Six for helping us identify the cause of these issues
  • Improved the speed of server backup creation.
  • Fixed the “All Known On Start” in-game map sandbox option not working in MP.
  • Multiple fixes implemented for trailer physics and towing desync issues in multiplayer.
  • Fixes for client side and server errors:
    • Client side error: “NetworkZombieMind: goal character is not set”, fixed.
    • Client side error: Stash debugger unable to be used in MP debug, fixed.
    • Client side error: players could become stuck on “Loading Map”, fixed.
    • Client side error: Lua error when using LootZed to refill containers, fixed.
    • Server error: StackOverflowError in ItemContainer.getCharacter(), fixed.
    • Server error: Dedicated servers freeze with "Entity is already registered", fixed.
    • Server error: Server hang because of IsoGridSquare.BurnWalls interaction with multi-tile objects, fixed.
  • Fixed an issue where a moving vehicle could disappear permanently after a reconnect or server restart.
  • Fixed an issue where shooting animals that were on a Butcher Hook would “glitch” them onto the floor.
  • Fixed maps being unreadable when in a container, instead of your inventory.
  • Fixed server admin issue where the “Timed action instant cheat” was not working when transferring items to/from containers.
  • Fixed sorting by “Recently Used” in the Crafting/Building windows.
  • Fixed notes/markings on map items vanishing after the map was put in a container, then retrieved.
  • Fixed fish bait not being able to be re-added to a fishing rod after the bait was removed.
  • Fixed an issue where server description text could disappear because of special characters being used.
  • Fixed an issue where ‘whisper’ chats would close server-wide when a player disconnected or respawned.
  • Fixed the “Show connection info” and “Show server info” checkboxes not saving when the game client is relaunched.
  • Fixed bandages still being shown on a remote player after being removed.
  • Fixed an issue where unarmed characters using “Smash Window” would still receive damage after interrupting the action.
  • Fixed sandbox options setting “Zombie Count Before Deletion” which was improperly flagging zombies as "Safe to Delete" while they were still within a player's protected range.
  • Fixed an issue where a player character’s clothing would stop updating for other players, generating excessive server errors.
  • Fixed an issue where a player-built structure and contents could vanish without warning, leaving the server error log message “Forward Direction cannot be zero length vector”.
  • Fixed items selected in character’s inventory being un-selected during combat with zombies.
  • Fixed vegetation not updating with seasonal changes in real time.
  • Fixed an issue where vegetation visibility would break while entering certain player-made buildings.

    Split-Screen Fixes

    • Fixed Cat’s Eyes trait effects (lighter nights) being applied for a player without the trait,
    • Fixed text being doubled in the chat box.
    • Fixed an issue where the game would freeze if a player re-joins while the other split-screen character is fishing.

    Other Fixes

    • Fixed an issue where animals could die when a player was away from the animal zone.
    • Fixed a game crash if a character leaves a chunk when chickens are in the nest box with eggs.
    • Fixed an issue which could cause animals to be ‘deleted’ from full hutches without warning, both on server restart and on chunk reload.
    • Fixed an issue where does (female rabbits) would not produce milk for their kits (baby rabbits), so the kits would, uh… starve and die. Does now produce milk for kits to drink, although characters cannot milk them, the same as pigs.
    • Fixed Alice Belts and Chest Rigs not speeding up magazine-based reloading.
    • Fixed an issue where it was impossible to build window frames on E and S walls from inside a structure (i.e. there is no floor support).
    • Fixed an error that can occur when using a controller/Steam Deck to read brochures or fliers.
    • Fixed controller/Steam Deck rotation of furniture not working.
    • Fixed an issue where a ‘None’ message appeared when using the Butcher Hook and clicking ‘Bleed’.
    • Fixed ‘Animal Info’ being available for dead animals inside trailers.
    • Fixed an issue that allowed for “infinite animal corpses” in a character’s inventory, after picking up and killing animals. Now when an animal is killed from within a character’s inventory, the corpse will be held in both hands until it is dropped or another animal is picked up.
    • Fixed the screwdriver being displayed incorrectly when disassembling items with a blowtorch.
    • Fixed Toasters and Coffee Machines being able to function without grid or generator-supplied power. No more battery powered toasters and coffee machines, sorry.
    • Fixed Strength stat XP not being awarded when selecting “Cut down Tree” from the right-click context menu. (Strength XP will continue to be awarded when cutting down a tree via ‘manual aiming’.)
    • Fixed more translation errors, including missing spaces, underscores in sentences and inconsistent naming.
    • Fixed an issue where the character would not move to ‘Sow’ or ‘Harvest’ if they could not reach the area without walking over crops. Crops cannot be trampled by a character, so they now correctly move to the furrow as needed.
    • Fixed 3D-placed items or dropped items often not fading out when they should be obscured by walls.
    • Fixed certain walls visually ‘overlapping’ objects when built behind them.
    • Fixed an issue where randomised Building Stories would occasionally not load, based on the character’s approach direction.
    • Fixed an infrequent zombie spawn error when exploring the world.
    • Fixed an occasional error popping up after loading a save file was almost finished.
    • Fixed an issue where harvesting plants at 10976x6692 would result in infinite errors.
    • Fixed an issue where the character could become ‘locked’ into fishing mode, when using the fishing rod as a weapon next to a body of water.
    • Fixed pillows not counting towards sleep quality, when placed on the SE tile of 4-tile sized (double) beds.
    • Fixed an issue where Animal Bones and Bone Spears would not appear/spawn lodged in zombies.
    • Fixed errors that occurred when specific actions were bound to mouse buttons via UI options.
    • Fixed un-barricading allowing planks to exceed a character’s inventory capacity.
    • Fixed an issue where players could not lock external doors from inside without a key. Deadbolts are working again.
    • Fixed car keys ‘magically’ appearing next to untouched cars after a player character leaves the area and then returns.
    • Fixed an issue where specific fence corners could not be jumped over.

    SFX

    • Added (dozens of!) new sound effects for equipping/unequipping melee weapons.
    • Added (even more!) new sound effects for equipping/unequipping throwable items.
    • Added new ‘footsteps’ sound for ladders, which varies according to ladder material and footwear (!).
    • Added a new sound for climbing Sheet Rope. Why, yes, it is 500-count cotton.
    • Added a new sound effect for ‘Burpees’ exercise. Hear the burn!
    • Fixed ‘Disinfect Rag’ sound effect being out of sync.
    • Fixed an issue with some carpeted rooms not using the correct footsteps sound effect.
    • Fixed an MP issue where switching vehicle headlights on or off could play multiple times.
    • Fixed throwable items sound effects being triggered twice in multiplayer.

    Debug/Technical Changes

    • Fixed clicking the Save button in the depth-texture editor resulting in a long pause while saving.
    • Removed TimSort and PZArrayList; current Java sort algorithms make them redundant.
    • Moved all tile definitions to a tile_definitions subfolder in /media.
    • Removed the .tiles and now generate them from .txt.
    • Added "Useless" zombie toggle to Horde Manager in debug mode.
    • Fixed a vulnerability related to eMudhra digital certificate validation
    • Added JRE integrity checks to detect modifications to the Java Runtime Environment. Detected alterations will be indicated in the version watermark
    • Updated third-party software licence acknowledgements in the credits and licence documentation
    • Fixed integrity checks incorrectly displaying "attached" on Windows

    • Sources

    Tags:Patch NotesProject Zomboid
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    Written by

    Nathan Lees

    Gaming journalist and founder of XP Gained. Covering patch notes, breaking news, and updates across 160+ games.

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