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How to join ZA-Z, the South African Project Zomboid B42 server

Checked | 5 min read

To join ZA-Z, start Project Zomboid (Build 42), choose Join, add the server 156.38.175.131 port 49685 to your favourites (or search the server browser for ZA-Z), and pick any username and password. There is no server password. On your first join the game downloads about 1.2 GB of Workshop mods through Steam by itself, so give it a few minutes. The quickest way in is the Open Zomboid and join button on zazomboid.com/join.

#What you need

  • Project Zomboid on Steam, Build 42. The server runs version 42.21, and your game must match it. Build 42 is Steam's default branch now, so a normal install is right. If you once picked a beta branch (an old Build 41 or an unstable test build), open the game's Properties in Steam, go to Betas and set it back to None.
  • About 1.2 GB of free disk for the mods, plus room for the map the game caches as you explore.
  • Nothing else. No mod manager, no subscribing to a collection: the game fetches every mod the server runs.

#How do I join the ZA-Z server?

  1. Open zazomboid.com/join and press Open Zomboid and join. Steam starts the game straight on the connect screen for ZA-Z.
  2. Or do it by hand: main menu, Join, Favorites, Add Server, then IP 156.38.175.131 and port 49685. The server also shows in the Internet list: search for ZA-Z.
  3. Type any username and password. The first time you join, that pair becomes your account, so write the password down: it is also your login for your page on the website. Stick to plain letters and numbers in the name; accented and non-Latin characters are refused.
  4. Wait while the mods download. The biggest two are the music pack (about 530 MB) and the texture optimiser (about 270 MB); the rest are small.
  5. Pick a spawn town and make your survivor.

You can have up to 5 accounts per Steam account, so a second survivor is allowed.

#Refused at the door?

Most refusals come from a version mismatch right after an update. When a mod updates, the server restarts itself to pick it up; when the game itself updates, the admins update the server by hand, usually the same day. Until then, players on the new version cannot get in. Restarting Steam fixes most other refusals. The full list of fixes is on Troubleshooting.

#Your first hour on ZA-Z

ZA-Z plays like vanilla Zomboid with the dials turned in a few places. These are the ones that catch new players.

#You get a few safe seconds at login

For a few seconds after you load in, zombies that were already on you cannot attack, and a small countdown shows above your head. It ends when the timer runs out, or the moment you move or swing. Use it to look around, not to stroll off. This comes from ZA-Z's Essentials.

#The towns are packed, and one in ten runs

The zombie population is at its peak, about 8 times a default Normal world, and it is urban focused: towns are thick with the dead, the woods much less so. 10 % of zombies are sprinters, toughness is random, and zombies do not respawn. What you clear stays clear, but the dead wander, and they drift back into empty streets. The full zombie setup is on Server settings.

#Where do power and water stand?

The grid is on, and it is set to stay on: survivors brought it back at the Rosewood South substation (the story). Mains water runs until 07:00 on Day 150 (5 December 1993 in game), so fill every bottle, pot and barrel before then. The admins can still stage a blackout as an event, so a generator is never wasted. Details on Power and Water.

#Claim a safehouse early

Find a building you like, clear it, and claim it with a right-click. A claimed safehouse keeps out everyone you have not invited, on foot and in cars, nobody else can loot it, fire cannot damage it, and you can set yourself to respawn there. One per player, and it expires if nobody from it visits for 14 real days. Everything else is on Safehouses.

#You never get tired

Sleep is optional on ZA-Z: your survivor never gets tired. If every player online goes to sleep at once, the night flies past (8 game hours in about 15 real seconds), so a bed is still handy.

#Skill books are gold

XP is 3x on every skill, and a skill book reads 40 times faster than normal. Grab every book you find and read it on the spot. Loot sits at or above the game's defaults in every category, with guns set richest of all; see Loot.

#Mind the clock

One in-game day is 3 real hours, with short nights. The game clock stops when nobody is online, so the world waits for you. The server restarts every night at 00:00 SAST, with warnings at 23:50, 23:55 and 23:59, and is back about two minutes later: log out somewhere safe before midnight.

#When you die

Every death is announced in chat, and the leaderboard remembers it. If you ticked Respawn in Safehouse, your next survivor starts at home.

#A few more things worth knowing

  • Your world map shows only players in your faction or your safehouse.
  • PvP is on, with the safety toggle. A player can only hurt another when at least one of them is in PvP mode. Fight if you both want to; do not camp spawns.
  • Need a breather? The Rosewood safe zone has no PvP and no zombies.
  • Animals unloaded from a towed trailer can vanish (a Build 42 bug). Lead livestock on foot.
  • The Knox Antidote and the Immune System mean a bite is not always the end. Do not count on either.

#Where to next

Join the community on the ZAGA Discord, and see zazomboid.com/join for the server rules.