Project Zomboid 42.20.3 (Build 42 Stable) patch notes

Live Monday, 17 August 2026

What changed

FIXMap
Fixed: an issue that would cause the client to hang on "Loading Map" forever
Fixed an issue that would cause the client to hang on "Loading Map" forever
Official source
CHANGEServer
Improved server player limit handling, including support for up to 254 players
Servers handle their player limit better, now allowing up to 254 players and letting administrators join even when the server is full.
Improved server player limit handling, including support for up to 254 players and administrator access when servers are full
Official source
FIXPerformance
Addressed multiple causes of a memory leak that could lead to performance degradation and crashes over time
Official source

While this update should not break saves, if you encounter any bugs please ensure you can replicate them on a fresh save with no mods installed before reporting them to our team here .

Improved server player limit handling, including support for up to 254 players and administrator access when servers are full
Fixed an issue that would cause the client to hang on "Loading Map" forever

Addressed multiple causes of a memory leak that could lead to performance degradation and crashes over time
If you continue to encounter an out of memory error in a new save, please submit a bug report with your logs and profiler video from debug so the team can investigate
Implemented several memory optimisations
Reduced instances of black and gray boxes appearing when travelling quickly through the world
Additional causes of this issue are still being investigated and will be addressed in a future update
Fixed issues that could cause errors during lighting updates.
As always, discussions regarding this update can be found pinned to the Project Zomboid Discussions Forums here .