Coloured tracer rounds in Project Zomboid: ZA-Z's Tracers

ZA-Z's Tracers adds tracer rounds to Project Zomboid on ZA-Z: eight calibres (9mm, .45, .44, .38, .357, 5.56, .308 and 7.62x39), each in five colours: green, blue, red, gold and pink. They turn up wherever plain ammunition of the same calibre does, about one find in ten. Load them like any other round through the Gunworks ammo menu, and every tracer you fire draws a streak in its colour that everyone nearby can see. They hit exactly like the plain round they copy.

Workshop page: ZA-Z's Tracers on Steam. It needs Gunworks Framework, and the 7.62x39 rounds also need Vanilla Weapons PLUS; both run on ZA-Z, so it all downloads when you join.

#Which calibres and colours are there?

Names follow the vanilla rounds with the colour on the end, so they sort next to the ammo you already know. Only the bullet tips are painted on the icons.

Swap Green for Blue, Red, Gold or Pink for the other four: 40 rounds and 40 boxes in all. There are no shotgun tracers.

#Where do tracer rounds spawn?

Everywhere the plain ammunition of that calibre spawns, in containers, bags and vehicles alike: if a spot can hold a box of 9mm, it can hold a box of 9mm tracers.

• Every loot list that holds a plain box, a plain loose round or a plain carton also holds tracers at a tenth of that item's chance, split evenly over the five colours. So roughly 1 find in 10 of a calibre is tracers, and the colour is random.
• A box brings tracer boxes and a loose round brings loose tracers. There are no tracer cartons, so a carton slot brings a tracer box instead.
• Where the chance is already tiny, a list carries one colour only, picked at random.

Containers opened before the mod arrived on 30 September 2026 kept their old loot; they get tracers at the next loot respawn.

#How do I load tracer rounds?

1. Open the box. Right-click it: Open Box (50 Rounds) or Open Box (20 Rounds). Pack Ammo in Box puts loose tracers back in a box.
2. Load them with Gunworks. With both plain and tracer rounds on you, right-click a magazine (or a gun that loads by hand, like a revolver) and open Load Ammo: every round type you carry is listed, tracers included. With only tracers on you, the entry shows directly.
3. Or set a favourite. Press O (the default key for Gunworks: Open weapon loader UI) to open the Ammo Loader, drop your gun or magazine in, and drag the tracer round to the top of the list. The top entry is the one picked when you press Reload.

Tracers fit every gun and magazine that takes the plain round. The .357 tracers also fit the revolvers that take both .38 and .357.

#What do tracers look like in game?

• Every tracer shot draws a line in its colour from your gun's muzzle to where the bullet lands, as fast as the game's own tracer. The line then lingers for about a third of a second so the colour reads.
• The game's normal gold tracer still draws underneath; the coloured streak sits on top.
• Players within 80 tiles of the shooter see your streaks, and you see theirs.
• Plain rounds keep only the game's usual tracer, so you can tell at a glance who is firing the coloured stuff.

#Colours at a glance

#More from ZA-Z

The other ZA-Z mods: ZA-Z's Essentials (an ammo counter at your crosshair), ZA-Z's Gear and Clothing (the Gold Desert Eagle takes .44 tracers), Tattoos and the Tattoo Parlour and ZA-Z's Smoker's Pack.