Project Zomboid multiplayer problems on ZA-Z, and how to fix them
Most problems on ZA-Z are Build 42 or mod bugs with a known way round, and the most common fix is the simplest one: log out and back in. Find your symptom below.
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Your game files do not match the server's" after a game update | Wait for the server to update |
| Stuck on "Server saving game. Please wait." | Relog |
| Notebook text gone after logging out | Favourite the notebook after writing |
| Standing on a bike seat, mod animations broken | Quit the game fully and relaunch |
| Power back on, but not for you | Relog, then check the bulb |
| Car inside a building | An engine quirk, not cheating |
| Helicopter shouts "MAP NOT LOADED" | Hover or slow down until the ground loads |
| Items with a "?" icon | Cosmetic; the item works |
#Kicked because your game files do not match the server's
You get "You have been kicked because your game files do not match the server's", or "File doesn't match the one on the server", right after a Project Zomboid update: Steam updated your game and the server is still on the old build. Dedicated servers never update themselves; ZA-Z spots a new build within minutes and the admin updates the server by hand. ZA-Z runs the stable Build 42 branch (42.21 as of 30 September 2026), so stay off the unstable beta. If the kicks go on after the server has updated, tell us on Discord: admins skip this check, so the server can look fine to them.
"Workshop item version is different than the server's" means a mod updated on the Workshop. The server restarts itself to pick it up, with warnings at 10, 5 and 1 minutes when players are on. If your copy is the older one, restart Steam.
#Stuck on "Server saving game. Please wait."
A Build 42 bug: a world save that finishes a few milliseconds past a timing threshold tells your game to pause and never tells it to resume. You sit at about 2 frames a second with the message on screen, still connected. Relog; nothing is lost. The ZA-Z server has been patched against it since 19 September 2026, so it should be rare now. If you do see it, tell us.
#My notebook text disappeared when I logged out
Another Build 42 multiplayer bug: writing in a notebook or journal changes only your own copy, so logging out swaps in the server's blank one. After writing, right-click the notebook, open More and click Favorite (or Unfavorite). That click sends the notebook to the server, pages included.
#Mod animations broken, or standing on a bike seat
If you ride an Autotsar Motor Club bike standing straight up on the seat, or other mod animations will not play, your game hit a start-up race and rejected every mod animation. Rejoining does not fix it. Quit Project Zomboid completely and launch it again. To confirm, search console.txt in your Zomboid user folder (on Windows, C:\Users\<you>\Zomboid) for Invalid prefix found.
#The power came back on, but not for me
Your game keeps the power settings it got when you joined, so if the grid came back while you were online, you still see a blackout: relog. If one lamp stays dark while others work, its bulb has burned out. Both are covered on Power and Water.
#My car ended up inside a building
It happens, and it is not your fault. When a car outruns the ground loading around its driver, the game can snap it to a corner of the 8 by 8 tile chunk it is in; if that corner lies inside a building, so does your car. The saved position shows the snap, so nobody will accuse you of driving in: ask an admin to get it out. On first trips into unvisited ground, ease off, because cars on ZA-Z can outrun the map.
#Helicopter warning: "STOP THE VEHICLE! MAP NOT LOADED!"
The Huey (flying on Aviation Core) checks 50 tiles out to the north, south, east and west. When any of those points has not loaded yet, your pilot shouts the warning and an alarm sounds (older versions say "Warning: Nearby Zone Not Loaded"). Hover or slow right down until it stops: a server freeze on 28 September 2026 struck during exactly that kind of fast flight over unloaded ground.
#Items with a "?" icon
The item is fine; only its picture is missing. Some mod authors pointed icons at files that do not exist in Build 42:
- Open and rolled army camo jackets from Spongie's Open Jackets, worn by army zombies.
- A hunting camo cap, a pink poncho and one Spiffo cap from Vanilla Clothing Expansion.
- Internal gun parts from Gunworks (bolts and stocks with the tooltip "How did you get this?"), which are only meant to exist inside a gun.
#Crashing to the main menu near a base
Dropping to the main menu near a base after walls or doors were built or broken (IsoGridSquare.getRoom().building is null in console.txt)? Look for a small pocket that is walled in and fully roofed, such as a gap boxed in beside a gate. Build 42 treats it as a room and can crash when its walls break. Open it up or finish it into a proper room, then relog.
#Still stuck?
Ask on Discord: the invite is on the join page. Tell us what you saw, roughly when, and what you were doing.