Map mods in Project Zomboid

Everything on this page is about mods, not the base game. Map mods are fan-made add-ons from the Steam Workshop that add new towns, bases or countryside to the world, or rebuild parts of Knox County. Some fill empty land between vanilla towns, others add a whole new area at the edge of the map. They are separate from the official Build 42 map, which already added towns such as Ekron and others you can browse on the map page.

A map mod usually ships its own map folder, tile packs, loot zones, zombie spawn data and sometimes spawn points so you can start there. For general mod setup, see the mods guide.

The big catch on Build 42: maps built for Build 41 do not simply carry over. Authors on the Workshop say the mod structure changed and maps need to be re-exported with Build 42 map tools, so many well-known maps are still Build 41 only. Read each Workshop page before you subscribe.

For single player or co-op hosted from the menu:

1. Subscribe to the map on the Steam Workshop and let Steam download it.
2. Check the Workshop page for a Build 42 version and any required tile pack or framework mod. Subscribe to those too.
3. In the main menu, open Mods and set the map mod and its dependencies to active.
4. Start a new game. If the map adds spawn points, pick it on the spawn screen (see starting locations).

Load order matters for maps. Where two maps cover the same cells, the one higher in the map list wins, and the base map, Muldraugh, KY, should stay at the bottom so it does not cover modded changes. Tile packs should load before the maps that use them.

Before choosing settings in sandbox options, confirm the map is listed as active. Changing the mod list on the menu does not change saves you already made.

A dedicated server needs three entries in its server settings file, each separated by semicolons. Full setup is on the hosting a server page.

The Mod ID and the map folder name are listed on each Workshop page, and one Workshop item can contain several Mod IDs. Mixing up the Workshop number and the Mod ID is the most common cause of a "required mod not found" error. Earlier Build 42 multiplayer versions wanted a backslash in front of each Mod ID; a current hosting guide says that is no longer needed (one source). Restart the server after every change and back up the world first. Players then download the same items when they join (see multiplayer).

Status below comes from each Workshop page, its comments and fan sites as of 14 November 2026, during the 42.22.x builds. Authors update often, so check again before you start a long run.

Two helper mods are worth knowing. Map Mod Manager shows which cells each map uses, checks for overlaps and handles load order; its change notes show Build 42 updates through 2026. More Maps [B42] adds readable map items for newer towns, but comments through October 2026 report the maps cannot be read and some crashes, so treat it with care. For the vanilla paper maps, see in-game maps.

Opinion Add map mods one at a time and test each on a throwaway world before your main save. Several big maps loaded together also raise load times and memory use; the performance guide covers settings that help.

You can enable a mod on a save you already have: back up the save folder, then go to Load, select the save, choose More, then Choose Mods, and set the mod to active. Give it an in-game day to settle.

The catch is that areas you have already visited were saved as they were. Content from a new map mod generally shows up only in parts of the world you have not loaded yet. A map that replaces cells you already explored can leave mismatched or broken areas, and removing a map mod mid-save is riskier still.

Opinion For any large map, starting a new world is the safe choice. If you must add one to a long save, pick a map that sits in land you have never visited, keep a backup, and drive there to check it loaded. Community guides describe resetting saved map areas so they regenerate, but we could not confirm the exact Build 42 steps, so do not delete save files without a backup. For more on what changed in Build 42, see the Build 42 guide.