# Project Zomboid Build 42.17.0 Unstable Released - Product: Project Zomboid (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/project-zomboid) - Vendor: The Indie Stone - Date: 2026-04-20 - Original notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/108600/view/573787410484167426 - Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/project-zomboid/releases/2026-04-20-build-42.17.0-unstable-released What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog. Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'. --- - **added** — Survival Guide updated with new content - **added** — Added static spawn points to Sandbox Mode in Brandenburg, Echo Creek, Ekron, Fallas Lake, Irvington, March Ridge, and Valley Station - **added** — Added new Skill VHS tapes for Aiming, Animal Care, Blacksmithing, Electrical, First Aid, Knapping, Pottery, Tailoring, and Welding - **added** — Fluid container empty rates now depend on type of container - **added** — Added book "The Moments of Darius" by Ignas - **changed** — Pet Name list updated in memoriam - **added** — Added dedicated Credits Screen - **changed** — In-game UI improvements including clamped XUI to screen size, rearranged crafting window, reduced input and output item box sizes, and improved scale of Admin Powers window - **changed** — Apocalypse game mode: vehicle spawn gas chance increased from Low to Normal, Other loot spawn rate increased from 0.6 to 0.8, Wound Infection Damage Factor increased from 0.0 to 1.0 - **changed** — Extinction game mode: Wound Infection Damage Factor increased from 0.5 to 1.0 - **changed** — Outbreak game mode: Other loot spawn rate increased from 0.6 to 0.8, Wound Infection Damage Factor increased from 0.0 to 1.0 - **changed** — Rising game mode: Other loot spawn rate increased from 0.6 to 1.0, Wound Infection Damage Factor increased from 0.0 to 1.0 - **changed** — Sandbox mode: Vehicle Chance Has Gas setting value of Normal reduced from 70 to 45 - **changed** — Chef occupation now gives +1 Short Blade instead of +1 Short Blunt - **changed** — DIY Expert now gives Inventive Trait instead of +1 Carving, point cost changed from -4 to -2 - **changed** — Electrician point cost changed from -4 to -2 - **changed** — Farmer now gives +1 Strength - **changed** — Welder point cost changed from -6 to -4 - **changed** — Animal stress gain and impact rebalanced: animals gain less stress from zombies, less stress under rain, and less stress from sound; animals' stress reduced more when petted; animals start destroying objects at stress 80 instead of 70 - **changed** — Reduced gasmask and respirator filter drain rate from corpse sickness - **changed** — Reduced tool degradation for Tailoring recipes - **fixed** — Chef occupation bug fix for Short Blade value - **fixed** — Unable to set Zombie speed in multiplayer - **added** — Thread-safe DDoS protection for RakNet - **changed** — Added option "Friends and nearby users" to map remote player visibility setting - **fixed** — Rare server crash when driving vehicles - **fixed** — Rope tied to animal disappearing after relogin - **fixed** — Unable to build constructions when standing near a container - **fixed** — Pipe bomb and Aerosol bomb not doing damage to players or animals - **fixed** — Timed fluid actions not working properly when queued - **fixed** — Spawn with Self server setting respawning player in a random spot - **fixed** — Character spontaneously taking off their clothes - **fixed** — Exception when disassembling a working TV - **fixed** — Characters interacting with items from a distance - **fixed** — Climbing rope desync - **fixed** — Double-tap door interactions causing doors to instantly open and close - **fixed** — Unable to view safehouse info through safehouse list window - **fixed** — Drying racks Take All button not working properly - **fixed** — Location of bite or scratch on body not matching damage on character's clothing - **fixed** — Character automatically rotating when standing above or under a vehicle - **fixed** — Favourited Light Sources losing favourite status after being transferred to a held container - **fixed** — Scrap failed halo text not being displayed - **fixed** — Rope not returning to character's inventory when Remove Escape Rope used 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 - The Survival Guide has been updated with new content - Added additional static spawn points to Sandbox Mode - Brandenburg - Echo Creek - Ekron - Fallas Lake - Irvington - March Ridge - Valley Station - Added new Skill VHS tapes - Aiming - Animal Care - Blacksmithing - Electrical - First Aid - Knapping - Pottery - Tailoring - Welding - Fluid container empty rates now depend type of container - Added book "The Moments of Darius" by Ignas - Updated Pet Name list in memoriam ##### UI/CONTROLLER - Additional WIP controller changes have been implemented. (Please keep providing feedback. It has been extremely valuable.) - The ability to customise controls in-game still requires additional work, and will be included in a future update. - Added dedicated Credits Screen - In-Game UI improvements - Clamp XUI to screen size - Rearranged and compacted Crafting window craft control box - Reduced size of input item boxes - Rearranged and compacted recipe filter box - Compacted Building window input panel - Reduced size of output item boxes - Fixed Crafting window input and output panels - Reduced preferred width of handcraft window - Reduced preferred width of build window - Compacted craft inventory panel - Improved scale of Admin Powers window - Host loading bar width has been resized ##### BALANCE - Game Mode Defaults Updated - Apocalypse - Chance for vehicles to spawn with gas increased from "Low" to "Normal" - Increased "Other" loot spawn rate from 0.6 to 0.8 - Increased "Wound Infection Damage Factor" from 0.0 to 1.0 - Extinction - Increased "Wound Infection Damage Factor" from 0.5 to 1.0 - Outbreak - Increased "Other" loot spawn rate from 0.6 to 0.8 - Increased "Wound Infection Damage Factor" from 0.0 to 1.0 - Rising - Increased "Other" loot spawn rate from 0.6 to 1.0 - Increased "Wound Infection Damage Factor" from 0.0 to 1.0 - Sandbox - Vehicle "Chance Has Gas" setting value of "Normal" reduced from 70 to 45 - Occupation Values Updated - Chef now gives +1 Short Blade instead of +1 Short Blunt (bug fix) - DIY Expert now gives Inventive Trait instead of +1 Carving, point cost changed from -4 to -2 - Doctor point cost changed from -2 to 0 - Electrician point cost changed from -4 to -2 - Farmer now gives +1 Strength - Nurse point cost changed from -2 to 0 - Rancher point cost changed from -2 to 0 - Welder point cost changed from -6 to -4 - - Trait Points Updated - Nutritionist changed from -4 to -2 - High Thirst changed from +1 to +2 - Smoker changed from +2 to +3 - - Animal stress gain & its impact have been rebalanced - Animals gain less stress from zombies - Animals gain less stress under rain (only certain animals don't like rain!) - Animals gain less stress due to sound - Animal's stress is reduced more when petting them - Animals should flee less often due to stress - Animals will start to destroy objects at stress 80 instead of 70 - Reduced the rate that gasmask/respirator filters are drained by corpse sickness - Reduced tool degredation for Tailoring recipes - Added moodle buffs to Radio/TV shows that were not awarding them - Adjusted encumberance values of coffins and gym mats - Adjusted Carpentry XP awards for WoodFloorLvl2, WoodFloorLvl3, SofteningBeam, TanninBarrel and ChurnBucket - Updated several tile properties - Changed the tooltip for scrapping tiles to be consistent with picking up tiles - Updated some flyer definitions, pictures, and text - Added guardrails for the “Other” loot distribution functionality so it doesn't include inappropriate conta _[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/108600/view/573787410484167426]_