Zombies changes in Project Zomboid

Zombie culling no longer kicks in when it should not, so multiplayer zombie numbers no longer drop sharply without reason.

Fixed zombie culling triggering incorrectly, causing severe drops in zombie populations

The Day/Night Zombie Speed Effect setting now applies to all zombies, not only the ones in your immediate area.

Fixed killed zombies duplicating after relogin

Fixed zombies freezing/walking away when being thrown over objects

Fixed another case of zombies phasing through short fences/windows/railings if stunned during climbing animation

Fixed an issue causing zombies to deal excessive thump damage

Remote zombies in multiplayer no longer appear out of sync, because their animation timing has been fixed.

Fixed remote zombies appearing out of sync due to incorrect animation timing

Fixed being unable to pick up fallen zombie hats/glasses

Zombies falling to the ground now make the right sound for the surface they land on.

Fixed some zombie bodyfalls not registering the correct surface and playing incorrect SFX

Fixed zombie spawn being delayed after server connection

Fixed plunger spears being able to impale zombies on charge attacks, instead of knocking them over

Fixed zombies dying when impacted by vehicles at low speeds

You can now hear a zombie tripping from up to 70 tiles away, which is farther than before.

Zombie Trip SFX range has been increased to 70 tiles.

Zombie vocal sounds now carry up to 70 tiles, so you can hear zombies from farther away.

Zombie vocal SFX range has been increased to 70 tiles.

Fixed zombies being unable to crawl under burned vehicles

Fixed multiple zombies dying on the same tile at roughly the same time causes their loot to become bugged

Zombies no longer vanish right behind you in multiplayer when the game removes low memory zombies.

Fixed disappearance of Low memory zombies right behind the player (zombie culling mechanic)

Fixed zombies on fire not providing illumination

Zombies that have the ability to open doors can now actually open them, so a closed door will not always keep them out.

Fixed zombies with the ability to open doors not being able to open doors

Zombie thump sounds now carry much farther, so you can hear zombies banging on things from a greater distance.

In multiplayer, zombies no longer jump to a different spot when you hit them.

Fixed zombies teleporting on hit

Standing zombies now crawl under cars as they should when the sandbox setting is "always".

Fixed standing zombies not crawling under cars, even when the sandbox setting is "always"

Fixed chasing zombies being able to fall through Log Walls

Fixed zombies being unable to break some breakable fences

Zombie speed can now be set in multiplayer, so servers can run sprinters or slow zombies.

We are looking forward to receiving your feedback on sprinters and slow zombies!

• We are looking forward to receiving your feedback on sprinters and slow zombies! If there

Fixed driving over live zombies on the ground playing wrong sounds

Trailers should no longer flip over when a single zombie bumps into them.

Zombies killed by another player now die straight away on your screen instead of after a delay.

Fixed Zombies die with a delay for the remote player

Fixed Zeds freezing when getting shot from behind

Fixed Attacking zombies through barricades has a very small hitbox

The "Basic Car Crash Corpse" roadside scene no longer spawns duplicate zombies in multiplayer.

Fixed duplicated zombies in road story “Basic Car Crash Corpse”

With the Auto Detect Prone or Standing Attack option turned off, shoving the air above a prone zombie no longer affects that zombie.

Fixed shoving the air over a prone zombie when the " Auto Detect Prone or Standing Attack" keybinding option is disabled shouldn't cause a stimp effect on the prone zombie

Zombies no longer jump when you shoot at them.

Fixed jumping zombies when shooting at them

Fixed not being able to pick up fallen zombie hats/glasses

Zombies you run over no longer flip before they get back up.

Fixed Ragdoll zombies flipping before getting up when being ran over

Fixed melee attacks passing through zombies

Zombies you drag are now dropped more quickly.

Zombie skeletons are now much lighter, the same weight as a corpse, so they are easier to carry.

Fixed game crashes after zombies attack an animal

Washing a bloody backpack looted from a zombie now removes the bloodstains.

Fixed Bloody Backpacks looted from zeds still display bloodstains after washing

Fixed zombies missing shove animation when shoved from behind

Zombies should no longer migrate when they are not meant to, which had been an ongoing problem.

Fixed ongoing issue with erroneous zombie migration.

• Fixed ongoing issue with erroneous zombie migration. Please let us know if you spot any more cases

Zombies no longer follow players to other towns because of leftover sound data that stayed behind when parts of the map were reused.

Fixed IsoChunk.soundList not clearing when chunks are reused, leading to zombies following players to other towns.

Fixed zombies wanting to pathfind around fences instead of vaulting them.

Zombies now climb over doors they can hop instead of sometimes thumping on them.

Fixed zombies sometimes thumping on hoppable doors instead of climbing over.

Zombies thumping on windows now trigger an extra sound effect.

Low quality knives can once again spawn stuck in zombies' left legs.

Fixed low quality knives not spawning embedded in zombies' left legs.

Shoving no longer triggers the bug where a shove went through zombies.

Fixed shove bug. The call to IsoGameCharacter.Hit() had to have bIgnoreDamage == true for the shove through zombie bug not to occur.

Fixed Zombie Thumps on barbed wire fences play wrong sound

Picking up a tile that a zombie is attacking no longer causes errors or crashes.

Fixed two sources of errors/crashes that can occur when picking up a tile that a zombie has targeted in ThumpState.java

Zombies now take fall damage differently.

Changes to zombie fall damage.

Fixed instances of zombies incorrectly staggering back and falling as if they've been hit again.

Fixed unseen zombies moving multiple times faster than they should when "Tiered Zombie Updates" was enabled.

Fixed a crash to desktop after shoving zombies with rifle equipped.

Thrown, timer, and remote-detonated explosives now increase the character’s zombie kill count.

Zombies no longer skip frames in several cases, so they should move and act more smoothly.

Fixed various issues with zombie updates skipping frames.

The new zombie spawn system no longer puts far too many zombies at isolated cabins and police stations, and zombie spawning also gets general balance and polish.

Fixed issues with new zombie spawn map system that, for example, were spawning far too many zombies at isolated cabins - and at police stations.

• Fixed issues with new zombie spawn map system that, for example, were spawning far too many zombies at isolated cabins - and at police stations. Also general balance and polish put in.

Ragdolled zombies no longer get stuck on corpses and are now non-solid, so they stop blocking you and other zombies, the same as zombies that are on the ground or staggering.

Fixed ragdolled zombies getting stuck on other ragdoll corpses.

• Fixed ragdolled zombies getting stuck on other ragdoll corpses. They are now non-solid so they don't block movement of the player and other zombies, identical to non-ragdoll zombies that are on the ground, falling down, or staggering from player hits.

A new zombie sandbox option lets you turn the Voronoi Noise randomisation of zombie distribution on or off.

Added zombie sandbox option to enable/disable "Voronoi Noise" randomisation of distribution.

Turning off Voronoi Noise is meant as a tool for workshop mappers who need predictable zombie placement, and it also doubles how many zombies spawn.

The option to turn off the voronoi noise cutoff is not meant to be a general "opt out", it's a tool destined to workshop mappers to keep distribution deterministic.

• The option to turn off the voronoi noise cutoff is not meant to be a general "opt out", it's a tool destined to workshop mappers to keep distribution deterministic. Disabling it will also double the amount of zombie spawned.

Fixed zombie animations skipping frames in split-screen.

The zombie spawning system has changed, so existing saves may get some unexpected zombie spawns on this unstable build.

The zombie spawn map, which sets where zombies appear, is now generated automatically by the game.

Zombie spawn map is now generated automatically.

Zombies downed by gunfire no longer get back up after you stomp them to death.

Zombies thumping on objects will now tend to stop when they hear a loud non-zombie sound like a shout behind them, unless they are after a player they see or recently saw in front of them.

Fixed zombies not reacting to player shouts when attacking objects.

• Fixed zombies not reacting to player shouts when attacking objects. Zombies will tend to stop thumping objects when they hear a loud, non-zombie sound behind them. This won't happen if they are targeting a player they see or recently saw in front of them.

Zombies right next to you now show up in pitch-black rooms, so you can see one you are standing on in a dark underground room while using a flashlight.

Fixed zombies near the player not being rendered when in completely black rooms.

• Fixed zombies near the player not being rendered when in completely black rooms. This is to fix a bug where a zombie the player is standing on can't be seen in a dark underground room while using a flashlight.

Your character should stomp or attack downed zombies too early less often, though the fix is not perfect and work on it continues.

Fixed character stomps or attacks "downed" zed too early (not perfect we know, we are still working on this one)

Zombies no longer spawn in the basement under the building you start in.

Fixed zombies spawning in basements beneath the player's spawn building.

Zombies in wild west law enforcement or outlaw outfits can now carry capguns.

Zombies in the wild west town law enforcement or outlaw outfits can have capguns on them; these were used in performances.

Left and right Gaiters are new items that you can craft and that sometimes turn up on suitable zombie outfits.

Added new left and right Gaiter items; Gaiters can be crafted and will sometimes spawn on some appropriate zombie outfits.

Regular zombies no longer freeze when killed while vaulting through a window or over a fence, although some cases involving firearms are still to be fixed.

Fixed regular zombies freezing when killed as they are vaulting through window or fences (some edge cases with firearms to be addressed).

Zombies can now appear in a wild west town law enforcement outfit.

Added an zombie outfit for wild west town law enforcement, as per the flyer.

Fences no longer bend faster as more zombies push on them, because damage no longer scales with zombie numbers, so large hordes take longer to break through.

Fixed fences bending too quickly at high zombie numbers.

• Fixed fences bending too quickly at high zombie numbers.
• Removed damage scaling by number of zombies.

Climbing zombies now do much less damage to fences on each climb, so fences hold up far longer against them.

Fixed fences collapsing too quickly from climbing zombies.

• Fixed fences collapsing too quickly from climbing zombies.
• Damage is now 0-1 per climb event (reduced from 1-5).

The zombie vision radius penalty now uses the maximum value instead of the minimum.

Fixed zombie vision radius using min value instead of max for the penalty.

Knocked down or stunned zombies now show chest movement, so you can tell they are still active before walking up to them.

Zombies no longer flip twice into a flat splat when knocked down while pushing metal fences or when crushed by them.

Fixed pancake splats (double zombie flips) when knocked down pushing or being crushed by metal fences.

The Grouchos house story now spawns groups of zombies in Groucho eyeglass masks and tuxedo print t-shirts half the time, instead of always in suits.

The Grouchos house story now will spawn a groups of Groucho eyeglass mask zombies wearing tuxedo print t-shirts instead of suits 50% of the time.

Bendable fences no longer get weaker as they bend, but each bend stage now takes fewer zombies to reach.

Removed fences becoming weaker as they are bent as they now require less zombies per stage.

Bent fences can now be fully broken once enough zombies climb through them, even if the zombies stop thumping on them because climbing through is easier.

This allows zombies to break the fence fully after a lot of zombies climb through, even if they stop thumping due to the easier path.

Zombies climbing through the gaps in badly bent fences now damage the fence as they pass.

Added damaging of fences when zombies climb through gaps when present on late stage bendable fences.

Zombies no longer lose track of you when you run behind a vehicle.

Fixed Zombies losing character that ran behind vehicles

Fixed Shooting while holding Alt knocks zeds down instantly

Some remote locations that had too many zombies now have fewer.

Slight fixes to zombie heat map.

• Slight fixes to zombie heat map. Some remote locations had too many. (Zombie heat map is always a work in progress and will be continually refined through many patches)

Fixed shotguns not firing when attacking zombies on the floor.

Survivalist zombies are a little less likely to carry armor and weapons, and they carry less of both.

Mild reduction in the chance/amount of armor and weapons that spawn on Survivalist outfit zombies.

Bandit and Survivalist zombies still carry good gear, just slightly less of it.

Both Bandits and Survivalist outfit zombies will have good stuff, they were just nudged to have slightly less good stuff.

Ambulance Driver and Doctor zombies from ambulance stories now sometimes wear surgical masks, with 10% of them wearing one.

Fixed zombies from ambulance stories not wearing masks. 10% of Ambulance Driver and Doctor outfit zombies will be wearing surgical masks.

Late stage loot now shows up in safehouses and on survivalist zombies after 90 days instead of 180.

Late stage loot now appears in safehouses and on survivalist zombies after 90 days, not 180.

Zombies climbing through windows now show up once their head is visible, so you can see them while they are still coming through.

Zombies climbing through windows now become visible when their head is visible.

Zombies now roll twice for building keys and keep the better result, so you find house keys on them more often, and the loot spawn setting still applies.

Changed the key spawning on zombies for buildings to utilize the better of two rolls, compared to the key spawning chance, to bump up building key spawns on them while still preserving the loot spawn setting functionality.

Zombies in bandit outfits that carry bags can sometimes have armor and weapon recipe magazines and schematics inside.

Bandit outfit zombies with bags will sometimes have armor and weapon recipe magazines and schematics in those backs, but not always.

Bags on zombies in survivalist outfits can now hold lower-tier skill books as well, where before they only had tier 4 and 5 books.

• Survivalist outfit zombie bags should contain more skill books, in tiers 1-3
• previously they only could spawn tier 4 & 5 skill books.

The survivor zombie and mob that spawn on roads are now spread out in a looser crowd instead of bunched in a tight group.

The survivor zombie and mob that spawn on roads will spawn in a more diffuse crowd than the tight little group they did previously.

With MultiHit on, your character now reliably attacks the closer zombie.

Fixed character not always attacking a closer zed even with MultiHit on.

A limited number of zombies in Hobo outfits can now spawn in derelict rooms.

Forests now hold fewer zombies, so moving through them is a little safer.

Glasses, hats and shoes placed by stories and world clutter are no longer removed by the cleanup that clears away hats and glasses that fall off zombies.

Glasses, Hats, and Shoes that are added in stories and world randomization clutter should not be deleted by the player quality of life world item removal system for removing hats and glasses that fall off of zombies.

Fixed Zeds playing wrong animation when shoved down.

Zombies shoved down from the front or back now play the correct stagger-back fall animation.

When bKnockedDown and !hasHitReaction and !bOnFloor and playerAttackPosition = FRONT/BACK, Zed now goes to staggerback-knockeddown.

Fixed zombie Pinpoint hearing not working as intended.

Fixed recently introduced bug that caused sounds to attract zombies from too far away.

Only crawler zombies can injure your feet or legs now; standing zombies no longer hit those areas by mistake.

Fixed not-crawler zombies sometimes injuring the feet or legs.

Zombies now hear over a smaller radius, so noise should draw them in from shorter distances.

Fixed zombie hearing radius being too large.

Zombies are even less likely to injure your groin.

Further reduced the chance of zombies to injure the groin.

Zombies that are not crawlers cause groin injuries less often, and crawlers can now occasionally cause them too.

Made it so groin injuries from not-crawler zombies are less common, and that crawlers can also inflict uncommon groin injuries.

Fall damage to zombies now varies from fall to fall and averages the same as before, so slightly more zombies die from falls.

Randomized the fall damage that zombies take.

• Randomized the fall damage that zombies take. This randomized spread will average out to the previous damage before it was randomized; this will have a minor impact (hohoho) on the damage that zombies that fall suffer, but slightly more of them will be able to be killed by this than before.

Fixed zombies spawning inside buildings when the zombie populations is set to 0.

Zombie corpses now drop the regular poisoned maggots instead of an obsolete version, which fixes a problem with using zombie maggots for fishing.

• Fixed issue with zombie maggots + fishing
• zombie corpses now spawn poisoned Base.Maggots and not Base.Maggots2 which are now obsolete.

Zombies that are targeting a player now work out their path before other zombies do, so the ones coming for you get priority.

Give zombies that are targeting a player higher priority for pathfinding than other zombies.

In multiplayer, zombies are slightly more drawn to gunshots, so firing a gun is a bit riskier.

Zombies can now attack Composters by thumping on them, like they do with other thumpable objects.

Made the Composter thumpable by zombies.

Fixed Zed appearance not syncing between players.

Fixed more cases where indoor zombies can spawn in inaccessible locations.

Fixed spear-charge zombie kills not being counted.

Fixed zombies only playing their Hurt sound one time when hit on the ground.

In singleplayer, zombies walking into a nearby vehicle no longer bump into your vehicle instead.

Fixed zombies colliding with the player's vehicle when walking into a different, nearby vehicle.

• Fixed zombies colliding with the player's vehicle when walking into a different, nearby vehicle. This only affects singleplayer.

Removing broken glass now makes less noise to zombies, so it draws less attention.

Only an admin or the zombie's owner can now delete a zombie.

Fixed zombie that can be deleted by admin or zombie owner

Zombies have new behaviours: they feast on recent corpses, loll against walls and fall over fences.

New zombie behaviour: feasting on recent corpses, lolling against walls, falling over fences etc.

Zombies now fit where you find them, with matching clothes and inventories, such as cops in police stations, firemen in burnt buildings and chefs in restaurant kitchens.

Situational zombie type/clothing and inventories - cop zeds in police station, firemen zeds in burnt buildings, Chef zeds in restaurant kitchens, bride and groom zeds at a wedding ceremony in church etc.

• Situational zombie type/clothing and inventories – cop zeds in police station, firemen zeds in burnt buildings, Chef zeds in restaurant kitchens, bride and groom zeds at a wedding ceremony in church etc.