Build 42 Unstable Released

[nasKo]

 

Build 42 Unstable is now available to play!

 

Important

• Those who play Unstable must be aware that they’re playing a work in progress.
• This Unstable exists so we can collect player feedback to find bugs and improve our game. Some key features, primarily multiplayer, are initially disabled – they will be re-enabled later.
• Build 41 saves and mods are NOT compatible with Build 42.
• There will be bugs and annoyances, and game balance will likely be way from perfect, particularly with the zombie distribution and combat changes.
• Your saves may break after Unstable updates.
•  

We’re aware people have built up a lot of anticipation for the first unstable release, and have done our best to make it an enjoyable experience out the gate. But as those who were present for the first b41 unstable release will attest, it’s in unstable for a reason and our unstable branches evolve a lot during the process, so please be understanding and constructive if you come across issues.

 

HOW TO PLAY?

The Unstable branch is now accessible to anyone who plays Project Zomboid.

Right click Project Zomboid in your Steam library and hit “Properties”.

Then, navigate to the betas tab and select the “Unstable” branch from the dropdown menu.

If you find a bug, read this first, then post it on our forums.

If you put it anywhere else (including Discord) then your report will likely get lost.

 

WHAT’S IN? WHAT’S NEXT?

Please note:

• Due to some unavoidable last minute compatibility issues, unstable 42 for Mac will arrive in a subsequent update, very possibly falling in the New Year.
• SteamDeck / controller input is still WIP, and currently not recommended for play
• MP will be enabled during the Unstable beta process.
• Our GOG friends will get access to Unstable very soon too, we’ve just had a lot on our plate but will try and roll the unstable out to GOG asap.

The team is still hard at work improving aspects of the game that will be mixed in during the Unstable beta process.

Initial patching, alongside any major issues that arise from the player community, will concentrate on:

• Polishing of Craft and Building UIs
• Ingredients tuning
• XP gain adjustments
• More icons, better tooltips
• Various collision issues

 

None of these areas are finalized, and we welcome your thoughts on all of the above so we can prioritize our patching.

 

A focus for us during Unstable will be hunting. Currently deer migrate over the map along paths preordained at the game’s start, and they leave poop and broken twigs that those with the tracking skill can follow – which testers seem to have found cool and atmospheric.

 

These rudiments are fun enough, but to get more of a Call of the Wild feeling we’re going to have to give the deer, their deaths, and the tracking much more focus during Unstable as the animal husbandry side of animals is what has received more than the lion’s share of attention during dev.

CURRENT KNOWN ISSUES

Ballistics system:

• Shooting at crawlers / on stairs with the new aim system is problematic. This will be addressed in the new year.
• Rare game crash during heavy usage of the M16 (fixing this is a top priority)

Crafting:

• Search bar ignores selected categories
• Recipes can use Items instead of values (e.g. hunger values)
• Batteries can behave oddly

Build Menu:

• Tile properties for new player build constructions need to be set up, some moveables can’t be picked up etc
• Players can’t disassemble moveable objects and reclaim resources

GrappleTech:

• Clipping and minor animation issues while picking up or dropping corpses, dragging on stairs and throwing corpses over window frames and fences
• Improvements required for turning animation while grabbing, and arm overtwist while dragging and turning.
• Shoving animation currently plays after dropping corpses.

General:

• Some missing 3D models and icons for items
• Not currently able to look around while seated
• Some animal pathfinding bugs present (e.g. animals can walk through closed gates)
• Liquids UI improvements needed
• Some hitching while dragging/zooming the new spawn map.
• Further balance is required for sneaking in different weather and darkness conditions

[Blake81]

YOU MADLADS!!

IT ISN'T EVEN THURSDAY!!

WHAT BLASPHEMY IS THIS!?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

[MailDeadDrop]

Congratulations! I realize that y'all are hideously busy right now. A friend sent me a screenshot of the spawn selection screen, and I wonder if there's a higher resolution version of this very nicely rendered "Chamber of Commerce"-themed map? Something appropriate for a desktop wallpaper?

 

[Nebula]

Have a good trip!

Edited December 17, 2024 by Nebula

[Nebula]

[Sheepie]

Please allow us at least the option to disable the ai loading screens and new moodles. I love the update and its content, but going in this direction is very concerning. 

[Milove]

I revived my account just to say thanks for this gift for the New Year. I wish you a wonderful New Year's mood, guys, I hope your works will be justified, I sincerely believe in it ♥

[vek]

Congratulations to all the fans of this great game! Thanks to the developers for a wonderful gift for the New Year and Christmas! We will be happy to test it.

[SherbasBird]

14 hours ago, nasKo said:

 

Build 42 Unstable is now available to play!

 

Important

• Those who play Unstable must be aware that they’re playing a work in progress.
• This Unstable exists so we can collect player feedback to find bugs and improve our game. Some key features, primarily multiplayer, are initially disabled – they will be re-enabled later.
• Build 41 saves and mods are NOT compatible with Build 42.
• There will be bugs and annoyances, and game balance will likely be way from perfect, particularly with the zombie distribution and combat changes.
• Your saves may break after Unstable updates.
•  

We’re aware people have built up a lot of anticipation for the first unstable release, and have done our best to make it an enjoyable experience out the gate. But as those who were present for the first b41 unstable release will attest, it’s in unstable for a reason and our unstable branches evolve a lot during the process, so please be understanding and constructive if you come across issues.

 

HOW TO PLAY?

The Unstable branch is now accessible to anyone who plays Project Zomboid.

Right click Project Zomboid in your Steam library and hit “Properties”.

Then, navigate to the betas tab and select the “Unstable” branch from the dropdown menu.

If you find a bug, read this first, then post it on our forums.

If you put it anywhere else (including Discord) then your report will likely get lost.

 

WHAT’S IN? WHAT’S NEXT?

Please note:

• Due to some unavoidable last minute compatibility issues, unstable 42 for Mac will arrive in a subsequent update, very possibly falling in the New Year.
• SteamDeck / controller input is still WIP, and currently not recommended for play
• MP will be enabled during the Unstable beta process.
• Our GOG friends will get access to Unstable very soon too, we’ve just had a lot on our plate but will try and roll the unstable out to GOG asap.

The team is still hard at work improving aspects of the game that will be mixed in during the Unstable beta process.

Initial patching, alongside any major issues that arise from the player community, will concentrate on:

• Polishing of Craft and Building UIs
• Ingredients tuning
• XP gain adjustments
• More icons, better tooltips
• Various collision issues

 

None of these areas are finalized, and we welcome your thoughts on all of the above so we can prioritize our patching.

 

A focus for us during Unstable will be hunting. Currently deer migrate over the map along paths preordained at the game’s start, and they leave poop and broken twigs that those with the tracking skill can follow – which testers seem to have found cool and atmospheric.

 

These rudiments are fun enough, but to get more of a Call of the Wild feeling we’re going to have to give the deer, their deaths, and the tracking much more focus during Unstable as the animal husbandry side of animals is what has received more than the lion’s share of attention during dev.

CURRENT KNOWN ISSUES

Ballistics system:

• Shooting at crawlers / on stairs with the new aim system is problematic. This will be addressed in the new year.
• Rare game crash during heavy usage of the M16 (fixing this is a top priority)

Crafting:

• Search bar ignores selected categories
• Recipes can use Items instead of values (e.g. hunger values)
• Batteries can behave oddly

Build Menu:

• Tile properties for new player build constructions need to be set up, some moveables can’t be picked up etc
• Players can’t disassemble moveable objects and reclaim resources

GrappleTech:

• Clipping and minor animation issues while picking up or dropping corpses, dragging on stairs and throwing corpses over window frames and fences
• Improvements required for turning animation while grabbing, and arm overtwist while dragging and turning.
• Shoving animation currently plays after dropping corpses.

General:

• Some missing 3D models and icons for items
• Not currently able to look around while seated
• Some animal pathfinding bugs present (e.g. animals can walk through closed gates)
• Liquids UI improvements needed
• Some hitching while dragging/zooming the new spawn map.
• Further balance is required for sneaking in different weather and darkness conditions

 

14 hours ago, nasKo said:

 

Build 42 Unstable is now available to play!

 

Important

• Those who play Unstable must be aware that they’re playing a work in progress.
• This Unstable exists so we can collect player feedback to find bugs and improve our game. Some key features, primarily multiplayer, are initially disabled – they will be re-enabled later.
• Build 41 saves and mods are NOT compatible with Build 42.
• There will be bugs and annoyances, and game balance will likely be way from perfect, particularly with the zombie distribution and combat changes.
• Your saves may break after Unstable updates.
•  

We’re aware people have built up a lot of anticipation for the first unstable release, and have done our best to make it an enjoyable experience out the gate. But as those who were present for the first b41 unstable release will attest, it’s in unstable for a reason and our unstable branches evolve a lot during the process, so please be understanding and constructive if you come across issues.

 

HOW TO PLAY?

The Unstable branch is now accessible to anyone who plays Project Zomboid.

Right click Project Zomboid in your Steam library and hit “Properties”.

Then, navigate to the betas tab and select the “Unstable” branch from the dropdown menu.

If you find a bug, read this first, then post it on our forums.

If you put it anywhere else (including Discord) then your report will likely get lost.

 

WHAT’S IN? WHAT’S NEXT?

Please note:

• Due to some unavoidable last minute compatibility issues, unstable 42 for Mac will arrive in a subsequent update, very possibly falling in the New Year.
• SteamDeck / controller input is still WIP, and currently not recommended for play
• MP will be enabled during the Unstable beta process.
• Our GOG friends will get access to Unstable very soon too, we’ve just had a lot on our plate but will try and roll the unstable out to GOG asap.

The team is still hard at work improving aspects of the game that will be mixed in during the Unstable beta process.

Initial patching, alongside any major issues that arise from the player community, will concentrate on:

• Polishing of Craft and Building UIs
• Ingredients tuning
• XP gain adjustments
• More icons, better tooltips
• Various collision issues

 

None of these areas are finalized, and we welcome your thoughts on all of the above so we can prioritize our patching.

 

A focus for us during Unstable will be hunting. Currently deer migrate over the map along paths preordained at the game’s start, and they leave poop and broken twigs that those with the tracking skill can follow – which testers seem to have found cool and atmospheric.

 

These rudiments are fun enough, but to get more of a Call of the Wild feeling we’re going to have to give the deer, their deaths, and the tracking much more focus during Unstable as the animal husbandry side of animals is what has received more than the lion’s share of attention during dev.

CURRENT KNOWN ISSUES

Ballistics system:

• Shooting at crawlers / on stairs with the new aim system is problematic. This will be addressed in the new year.
• Rare game crash during heavy usage of the M16 (fixing this is a top priority)

Crafting:

• Search bar ignores selected categories
• Recipes can use Items instead of values (e.g. hunger values)
• Batteries can behave oddly

Build Menu:

• Tile properties for new player build constructions need to be set up, some moveables can’t be picked up etc
• Players can’t disassemble moveable objects and reclaim resources

GrappleTech:

• Clipping and minor animation issues while picking up or dropping corpses, dragging on stairs and throwing corpses over window frames and fences
• Improvements required for turning animation while grabbing, and arm overtwist while dragging and turning.
• Shoving animation currently plays after dropping corpses.

General:

• Some missing 3D models and icons for items
• Not currently able to look around while seated
• Some animal pathfinding bugs present (e.g. animals can walk through closed gates)
• Liquids UI improvements needed
• Some hitching while dragging/zooming the new spawn map.
• Further balance is required for sneaking in different weather and darkness conditions

Hello guys, i'm new in this forum, i wanted to help into the beta testing of this 42 build
How can i report some bugs, or issues that i encounter, so i can let the developers know?

[Cereal_Guitar]

Of course, I respect you, TheIndieStone, for releasing 42 Build, but the trouble is that some people can't play with mods from 41 versions of the Build.Some may not update at all.Can you make mods from 41 builds work on the 42 Builds branch?

[MadDan]

4 minutes ago, Cereal_Guitar said:

Of course, I respect you, TheIndieStone, for releasing 42 Build, but the trouble is that some people can't play with mods from 41 versions of the Build.Some may not update at all.Can you make mods from 41 builds work on the 42 Builds branch?

Mods won't be compatible unless they are updated by the mod authors to the new build. The build just released, so you will have to wait some time. On top of that, unstable helps us track down bugs when people are using vanilla saves. If they aren't we can't provide support until it's confirmed on a vanilla save.

 

Some mod authors will update their mods, some won't It's up to them.

[Cereal_Guitar]

8 minutes ago, MadDan said:

Моды не будут совместимы, если авторы модов не обновят их до новой сборки. Сборка только что вышла, так что вам придется подождать некоторое время. Кроме того, нестабильная версия помогает нам отслеживать ошибки, когда люди используют ванильные сохранения. Если нет, мы не можем оказать поддержку, пока это не будет подтверждено на ванильном сохранении.

 

Некоторые авторы модов будут обновлять свои моды, некоторые — нет. Это их дело.

It's a shame to hear that

[Eonoyu]

Huge thanks to, The Indie Stone Team!
I'll be taking notes for this build.

[HunterH]

Love the game and can't wait to try out build 42 (I'm on mac so it's not out yet right?), but I'm really not a fan of the change in art direction for the main menu and moodles... and I think many resonate with this. Otherwise, awesome news!!!

[StarFireReaper]

Hi, I am a mod creator and wondering if there will be anything posted on the indie stone forums about what we need to do to get our mods to work on the new build. Want to get the mod working as soon as possible for the coming stable release.

[MarcelLeCrow]

O...m....g....

[Living Landmine]

After trying out the new build over a few sessions and about 2 in-game weeks in, I have some feedback to give that I hope will bring more attention to issues I think should be addressed.  Granted, I am not 100% certain how some of the introduced mechanics are tuned.

Firstly, I'm personally not all against the muscle strain, but at the same time I'm not too terribly thrilled by it.  I think could be tweaked to be less restrictive and allow players to get around it in more ways.  I've learned to try and get zombies prone to stomp on them when I can to save strain on the arms.  I was surprised to learn (or at least hear from others) that strength levels don't have any relation to the buildup of combat strain.  I think higher strength levels should compliment the weapon proficiency's reduced muscle strain effect.  (I apparently overlooked this part, the game does say strength levels reduce strain)  Regardless, I would definitely suggest reducing the default rate muscle strain accumulates.

My next issue is in regard to certain actions in the dropdown menus and crafting.  For instance: I had two bowls and a pot of soup/stew, but I couldn't figure out how to put the food into the bowls so I wouldn't have to carry the whole pot around with me.  The option is gone from the dropdown when right clicking the pot or bowls, and the liquid transfer option didn't seem to provide that either.  I think later I read that you have to "craft" a bowl of soup/stew in the crafting menu or something.  I don't know if this is an intentional change, but I would much rather have the simple action of pouring soup into a bowl be a right click option than something berried in the crafting menu.  I also noticed that in order to craft a simple crude hammer out of sticks and stones, you need a level in maintenance.  I simply do not like this requirement for making crude tools, as maintenance takes a long time to level to even 1 without any profession or perk bonuses.

This leads me to my next issue, which is that the rarity of some types of loot don't really make sense to me.  Sure people would probably take all the food they could carry, but why are all the tool sheds, garages, bookcases, and basements so sparsely supplied with tools and materials?  Who would take all of that when trying to bug out?  I don't think a majority of people would be intending to build themselves a cabin while bugging out of Knox country.  This is why I was trying to craft a stone hammer, since I couldn't find a single hammer several days in.  I also couldn't find a single normal stone when foraging, even after walking down many roads at level 3 foraging.  Something must be wrong with the distribution, as for the most part I could only find flint and flint flakes.  It didn't look like the regular flint could be used in the hammer recipe.

My last issue is with the aiming system.  My character has level 3 aim, but it feels like they miss a vast majority of their shots at close range even when not very panicked.  I don't know if I am failing realize something or if the hit chances are bugged.  I read it might be you now have to be aiming the curser directly on the zeds, but I think most PZ players are use to hovering their aim slightly in front of the zombie at center of mass.

Overall my impression of 42 so far is that the game feels less rewarding than build 41, currently.  Trying to secure enough resources and food feels more grueling than I'd like it to be.  I feel like I can't really start to train non-combat skills since I need to be looting far more often to secure enough calories to maintain a healthy weight and to get the tools/materials needed to work on the skills.   I can't seem to find much information that goes into detail on how the new and updated things work now, so it would be nice for players to refer to something like that for the sake of avoiding confusion between intended and unintended aspects of the game, sort of like an extra detailed patch note I guess.

That's all I have for now, I hope this feedback is useful for the developers.

Edited December 20, 2024 by Living Landmine

[CzechStag]

Can you please get the controller/Steam Deck controls working? I've been gaming so much on my Steam Deck while on the go that it's a pain to play with a keyboard now. Using a controller feels so natural to me now that I really hard time learning it with mouse and keyboard.

[fcolley3]

I've been playing since build 40 started and was looking forward to some updates that really enhanced the game, not change it so dramatically. I respectfully state that I'm not liking it at all. The team just went way to far. This was once a nice survival game that is no way beyond what it needed to be. We definitely needed updates with things like animations, traits, the smell of blood, which I've been waiting to be corrected for years, improving upon what we already had but, this has turned into another game that I'm not longer interested in. I did like the new 3D loading screens but because some ppl made a stink about them, they were removed. I'm not angry or trying to discredit all the work that was done, I just think it's no longer Project Zomboid and over 50% of the changes made I would never use. So I will be looking for my new favorite game. It was great playing PZ all these years and I will miss it.

[referenceboy007]

On 12/18/2024 at 10:05 AM, HunterH said:

Love the game and can't wait to try out build 42 (I'm on mac so it's not out yet right?), but I'm really not a fan of the change in art direction for the main menu and moodles... and I think many resonate with this. Otherwise, awesome news!!!

I agree with this. Should be an option to switch to legacy title art and old moodles. I liked the title art with the guy holding Kate revealed to be a zomboid and its animation but the rest seemed out of touch with the history of the style of the game.

[DeclanRealms]

Is it possible for build 42 unstable to be added to geforce now? As it is impossible to play it as of right now.

Edited December 21, 2024 by DeclanRealms

[Vela]

Yipeeeee

[Wegax]

On 12/18/2024 at 8:05 PM, HunterH said:

Love the game and can't wait to try out build 42 (I'm on mac so it's not out yet right?), but I'm really not a fan of the change in art direction for the main menu and moodles... and I think many resonate with this. Otherwise, awesome news!!!

Yes, I agree with that too. Developers just need to bring back the moodles and create for new character states. I would also like to add that the shotgun's range is much larger.

Edited December 21, 2024 by Wegax

[Nazarito22]

Finally. Hooray 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[thauanb]

Hello everyone, congratulations on the excellent work you are doing with this game. I recently noticed that some items have infinite crafting, is this normal? I’m sharing a code below where this is also happening

 

module Base
{
    craftRecipe RecicleCan
    {
        timedAction = Making,
        time = 100,
        Tags = InHandCraft,
        category = ChaosQOL,

        inputs
        {
            item 1 tags[EmptyCan],        
        }
        outputs
        {
            item 1 Base.ScrapMetal,
        }
    }

}