Fire, campfires and heating in Project Zomboid

In Build 42 the campfire is in the Building menu, not Crafting, and it needs three stones in your inventory. Stones come from foraging in Search Mode, riverbanks and gravel yards. A tired character cannot start the build, so rest first. Build outdoors on a tile you control, because an indoor fire can set the house alight.

Placing the stones does not light the fire. Light it with a lighter or matches (fastest), or a notched plank and a sturdy stick. Start it with tinder such as paper, a book or a rag, then feed it. Once it has fuel, petrol can replace tinder. If the fire dies you must light it again. Campfire flames never spread. See foraging for stones and cooking for using the heat.

Burn times match the game's own campfire fuel list (game files). The same list gives charcoal 30 minutes a piece, and a book or an item of clothing 15 minutes. Twigs, scrap and sheets are tinder-like or emergency fuel.

A sandbox option, Maximum Fire Fuel Hours, caps how much a fire can hold: 8 hours on Apocalypse, Rising and Extinction, 12 on Outbreak, or your own value on Custom. At 8 hours about five Scrap Wood (7.0 hours) fit before a sixth is refused. Per weight, scrap wood and twigs are the best fuel.

Scrap Wood weighs 1.0, cannot replace planks and comes from dismantling wooden furniture at low Woodwork skill, failed salvage, destroyed traps and world loot. Higher Woodwork gives more planks and less scrap. At Carving 1, one Scrap Wood and a sharp knife makes 2 Small Handles and gives Carving XP. Eighteen small wood pieces, scrap included, make 12 Charcoal in the small charcoal recipe. Older guides that list scrap weight as 0.5 to 0.7 are wrong.

Wood fuel works in campfires, wood stoves, fireplaces and charcoal barbecues. Rain affects outdoor campfires, so an indoor stove or fireplace is safer. Keep a bucket of water or a fire extinguisher in the same room as any fire. A fire is easy to see at night but its noise is modest next to a generator. In multiplayer, one fire per group with one person tending it works well. The antique oven is the recommended choice for big winter cooking batches, and boiling is covered on water.

Cold comes from air temperature, wind, rain or snow on your clothes and how wet you are. Hunger and fatigue make it worse, and shivering burns more calories. Hypothermia starts as discomfort, then stops natural healing, then slows your walking and combat, and finally damages your health. The guide gives no numbers for the thresholds, so watch the moodle on moodles.

• Treat it: get indoors, change into dry insulated clothes, then warm up beside a fireplace, wood stove or a running car heater.
• Layer up: insulation on head, torso, hands and feet. Wet clothes lose their insulation, so keep a dry spare set at base. More in clothing.
• Stock wood in autumn, while trees are easy to reach, and keep a backup heat plan. A car heater only works with a running, warm engine.

There are two ways, checked by one guide for 42.21 (one source).

Campfire (safest). Build it from three stones on bare road or concrete, away from grass, fences, crops and cars. Load bodies before lighting, using Place corpse on campfire, which is greyed out once lit. Stand within about 1.2 squares of its centre. Put it out later with the fire's own Put out Fire, which needs no water.

Burn Corpse (fastest). You need one container holding more than 0.5 L of petrol and a lighter, matches or another starter. Two half-full cans do not count. Each burn uses 0.1 L of petrol and burns every body on the square, which are removed about 10 seconds in. On a road the fire stays on one square. On grass it can spread to grass, fences, crops and walls, and a burning zombie or player can light the squares they walk across. It is not offered on animal carcasses or while in a vehicle.

Corpses do not attract zombies by themselves, but they cause the Noxious Smell moodle. A gas mask or respirator with a charged filter blocks it. Other disposal: a grave holds 5 bodies, and bodies vanish after 216 in-game hours (288 for skeletons) unless the sandbox value is 0.

Each action covers a 2x2 area. Rain stops a fire spreading to new squares, but squares already burning keep burning. Look at base building for fire-safe layouts.

Opinion Light fires on stone or road, never beside a wall or in grass. Keep water in the room. Do not leave a fire alone in an indoor stove for a long sleep unless you are sure of the fuel cap. Dress street-facing windows before burning at night, as in the stealth guide.