Tents and camping in Project Zomboid

Build 41 had one loot tent and one crafted tent. The Build 42 item files list more: four colors of camping tent (blue, brown, green and yellow), a separate Tent Kit, the crafted Improvised Tent Kit, a Hide Tent and a Tarp Shelter. Every tent has two forms. You carry the packed form, and the unpacked form is the one you set on the ground.

The Improvised Tent Kit recipe is confirmed by two sources. Neither shows a skill requirement. Tent pegs count by tag, so any item tagged as a tent peg will work. You can forage the sticks and saplings (see foraging). Tarps turn up in camping store shelves, camping crates, toolboxes and mechanic shelves.

1. Pick flat, open ground. Stay off roads, because you cannot place a tent there.
2. Use the Unpack Tent recipe on the packed tent. It takes about half as long as packing (50 against 100 in the recipe file).
3. Place the unpacked tent from your inventory, or use the Move Furniture place mode, and rotate it before you confirm.
4. To leave, pick the tent up and run Pack Tent on it, then carry the packed item.

The tooltips tell you which form an action needs: one says the tent must be packed, the other that it must be unpacked. Packed tents and bedrolls use the Bedroll attachment, so many backpacks can carry one on the outside instead of in the main pocket (see bags). Build 42.1 fixed several bugs that stopped tents from packing. If one still refuses, empty the tile around it and try again.

A placed tent works as a bed. The usual sleep rules still apply: you need to be tired, and pain or panic will stop you. On multiplayer servers, the server's sleep setting decides whether you can sleep at all. One guide rates a tent as average bed quality (one source), which is better than the ground and worse than a real bed. A sleeping bag laid inside a tent does not obviously stack with it.

Do not count on a tent for storage. No source we checked lists a container capacity for Build 42 tents, and a tent has no lock. Keep valuables in your bag or in a crate you build nearby (see storage).

Opinion Watch your carry weight. A packed camping tent weighs 5 and a packed Improvised Tent Kit weighs 4, so most of the time the lighter tent wins.

A campfire gives you heat, light and a place to cook in the open. The full rules for building a fire, fuel and tinder are on the fire page, and the recipes are on cooking. Note that tents and tent kits are tagged as fire fuel and tinder, so they can burn.

• Build the fire a few tiles from the tent, never right next to it.
• Put the fire out before you sleep or leave. An unattended fire can spread, and fire spread depends on your sandbox settings.
• Set up a tarp rain collector next to camp. Both the square and round versions are crafted from a tarp (see water).

Opinion A camp is safest when zombies never walk past it. Noise and light draw them in (see stealth and zombies).

• Camp in thick forest, away from roads and towns, where migrating hordes rarely pass.
• Keep fires small, and put them out once you are done cooking.
• Do not chop trees or build loudly next to camp at night.
• Pick a brown or green tent if you have the choice. The colors probably only change how the tent looks, but they are easier on the eye in multiplayer.
• Before you sleep, plan an escape route that is not the way zombies would come.

No source we checked gives figures for how well a Build 42 tent keeps out rain, wind or cold. Assume it keeps rain off you while you lie inside, but expect it to hold very little heat. Dry clothes, a fire and good bedding do most of the work. See weather for how rain wets clothing and winter for body heat.

Opinion From late autumn on, use a tent only as a stop for a night or two, and have a house within reach. In winter, insulated clothing and a fire matter much more than the tent itself.

Opinion Pick a camp over a house when:

• you are travelling between towns;
• you are hunting, trapping or foraging far from base;
• the nearest town is overrun;
• you want to stay out of a horde's path.

Pick a house when you need storage, a lock, winter warmth or long-term farming. For a permanent base, see base locations and wilderness survival.