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ZA-Z update, 9 November 2026: Project Zomboid Build 42.22, and 265 songs on tapes for the Walkman, the boombox and every car radio

Released | 2 min read

The server moved to Project Zomboid Build 42.22 with the restart at 17:00 SAST on 9 November 2026, together with a ZA-Z update. Steam updates your game by itself; if it has not, close Steam completely, open it again and let it update Project Zomboid before you join. The first join downloads about 105 MB of new ZA-Z files, and the old music mod (about 500 MB) leaves the list.

#Build 42.22

  • Ladders. The game has its own ladders now.
  • Crowbars force doors. A crowbar can force most locked doors, windows and fence gates, including a safehouse's outer doors. Raiders still cannot walk into a claim, but a forced door stays open for the dead. Barricade your outer doors: a barricaded door cannot be forced. See Safehouses.
  • Sleep and smell. You cannot sleep while the Bad Smell moodle is on; the sleep option says why.

#ZA-Z's Tapes

ZA-Z's Tapes replace the old cassette music mod, The Real True Music. 265 songs on tapes you find in drawers, shops, glove boxes and on zombies, played in a Walkman, a boombox (in your hand, set down, or hung under a big backpack) or any car radio.

  • Tapes. Each tape holds one song, named on it ("Tape: AC/DC - Thunderstruck"). A Walkman plays to you alone; a boombox plays to everyone near you; a car radio plays to you inside and, muffled while the windows and doors are shut, to people outside. Where to look and how each player works: Tapes.
  • Car radios. Every car radio opens the game's own radio window, with the 100.0 MHz dial for ZA-Z FM and a Tape deck. A playing tape wins over the station.
  • Your old cassettes. Nothing is lost. Pick one up and it turns into the tape of the same song; an old cassette player becomes a Walkman and an old boombox a ZA-Z boombox. Seven of the old songs could not be found again: those cassettes become a random tape.
  • Smaller download. The old music mod leaves the mod list; the songs now come inside ZA-Z's Tunes, which downloads when you join. You can unsubscribe from The Real True Music on Steam.

#Cars

  • KI5 bullbars protect the car. On the KI5 cars (Humvee, Range Rover, GT-R, Hilux, 911, M35, Challenger and Pierce Arrow) a fitted bullbar now saves the hood, the engine behind it and the headlights in a crash or a zombie hit, and wears instead. See Vehicle Armour.

#ZA-Z FM

  • New song: Doomed (MAPHRA's cover of Bring Me The Horizon) joins the playlist on ZA-Z FM, and on a tape of its own.