Hello and welcome back! Today I want to discuss the 10 simple tips that I have found to be the most game changing in Project Zomboid B42. I will try to keep these tips and as quick and to the point as always! While some of these might be known to the long term veteran viewers of the site. For any beginner Project Zomboid players these tips will help transform your gameplay overnight! So let’s get started.
The Power of Walk-To FF
This is a relatively known trick but the true power of it is very rarely discussed in detail outside of certain streams. It is already well known that using Walk-To will allow you to path through trees or obstacles and reduce the chances of injuries(I say reduce as of B42, you can still be injured by trees during walk-to). The default hotkey for this is “Y”. It is a nice way to take strain off your hands too if you are doing a lot of movement in MP.
But the key trick comes from understanding this specific setting in Project Zomboid.
With this setting, it will #1 increase your FPS since far away zombies or off screen zombies will not be updated as frequently (It’s quite a big performance boost). But also it has another effect. When we are using walk-to we can speed up time with the 2x speed up option(any other option will not work). This makes zombie code run significantly slower. Basically, if you use FF (what we call 2x speed-up) walk-to tech, you can basically escape any horde or zombies instantly. Since their pathfinding code will not work nearly as well, and they basically lose track of you instantly. You can use this during the helicopter event actually! If you just speed up time to max, it’ll basically do very little if anything at all if you are even remotely out of sight. This is a super great trick for new players who have issues escaping zombies.
How to Read Faster
So, at this point, most people know that using reading glasses speeds up your reading speed by 10%. But, what is lesser known is that sitting on the ground ALSO speeds up your reading speed by 10% and this does stack. Which means, using both together gives you a 20% reading speed boost. This is absolutely massive on MP servers (especially those without faster reading times).
One unknown benefit of these changes is that the 20% speed boost honestly makes Slow Reader an actually good trait in SP. Yes it is still very slow, but it’s not THAT bad anymore with these boosts. But on MP I still wouldn’t recommend it. With Fast Reader, you can read books stupidly fast in SP. Especially with the new hotkey to sit down, it makes this even more convenient to use everytime you read.
How to Easily Find Worms
In B42 it is much harder to find worms to be honest. But I do have a small solution to this problem! Worms are very useful for fishing bait and for adding to chum or even a desperate food choice. Composters are a great choice of course, but they take time! To avoid this problem. You can actually forage any dug furrows in the game during the rain to get a much much higher chance of worms! So if you dig furrows in the rain while foraging you can double dip on this higher probability to get crazy numbers of worms.
Fast Break Doors
Basically all players know you can break down doors by using any weapon. Some weapons are better than others (Hint: Sharp things like axes are good). But what I haven’t seen a lot of people do is to speed up time while swinging. If you use your speed up hotkeys, you can fast break down doors by speeding up time while spamming your attack key. Even if you don’t hear the sound cue of hitting a door, you are still hitting it. With a good axe, you can break security doors in literally seconds using this!
Find Hidden Loot
I have discussed in detail in a video that I linked below. But I feel it must be mentioned again. The trash cans and specifically the garbage bags in B42 are stupidly, unbelievably OP. They have been nerfed before and are still insane. I have legitimately found game breaking items in multiple runs by simply being willing to check garbage bags. I did a stream once where I studied just how good it is. And I found I could basically (probably) survive entirely off garbage bags for quite a bit of time.
The PZ Map
This is one of those tips that I feel sounds super obvious at the start but is chronically underutilized. The Project Zomboid map is insanely useful for any run from challenges, to beginner playthroughs. One of the most useful things I have found that the Project Zomboid map can help me do is to find propane grills which of course have propane tanks.
But there is much more than this. You can also find set generator spawns, sand spawns(good for chum base for fishing nets), and every other useful to loot location. With the new map, you can also see specific car spawns to show you where you should look if you want to find specific cars. You can also check foraging zones and trapping zones which allows to be as efficient as possible in your playthroughs.
Infinite Tree Branches and Firewood
I rarely mention things I think could get nerfed. But this is one thing I feel will be in the game for the long term since it’s been in the game for a very very long time. If you have an appropriate knife or cutting weapon. You can right click bushes in the game (use the gardening option) and select remove bush. This will not use the quality of your item at all but will provide you with tree branches and twigs. Tree branches can be used to speed level carving which makes this a super useful trick to know. Especially in MP when axes or other proper tree cutting items can be rarer. This is one of those tricks that makes a world of difference when it’s needed, but sometimes doesn’t really do anything at all. Keep it as a tool you pull out sometimes when the moment requires!
Magazines Reduce Levels Required
This is one of those you either know or don’t traits. If you are holding the magazine needed for a skill in your inventory. Then the overall skill level required to use this recipe is reduced by 1. This is basically universal, making skill magazines useful even after being read since we can quite often read a skill magazine well before we actually have the crafting recipe to make the item. This is is very useful for fishing nets as well which we known is a massive food source from my various mentions of it.
You Don’t Need a Generator Magazine
I am saving this for last since I think this is one of the most well known Project Zomboid B42 tips. But you do not need a generator magazine anymore to use generators in Project Zomboid. No longer are master electricians confused about how a basic generator works. At level 3 you can automatically connect a generator, use it, and repair it like normal. This is reduced to 2 by inventive. Grinding to 2 electrical can still be a bit of a challenge, but it is significantly better than in B41 where you were absolutely forced to find the magazine if you can’t find the proper magazine! The DIY occupation automatically has inventive but that has been bugged in previous builds, so definitely take care if you are reading this later to make sure it has been fixed properly.
