Reading the screen in Project Zomboid

The Build 42 screen has four fixed areas. A column of icons runs down the left edge. Your inventory sits at the top left and the loot panel at the top right. The clock and the moodles strip are in the top right corner.

The keys below are the Build 42 defaults as listed by a 42.19 key guide. Guides disagree: another Build 42 page gives Tab for inventory and I for crafting, and Build 41 lists give C for skills and V for Toggle UI. Trust Options, Key Bindings in your own install. The full list is on the controls page.

The left panel is your character. The right panel is whatever is in reach: shelves, corpses, car seats and the floor. Each panel has a strip of container icons on its edge. Click one to switch between your main inventory, a worn bag or a nearby container. Each panel shows its load against capacity; see carry weight.

Ways to move items quickly:

• Loot All on the loot panel takes everything from the selected container. Transfer All on your panel pushes everything the other way.
• Double-click an item to move it to the other panel.
• Ctrl-click picks several separate rows, Shift-click picks a range, and you can then drag the selection onto a container icon.
• Click the column headers to sort by type or by category.

The pin button in a panel's title bar keeps it open; unpinned panels fold away when the mouse leaves them. Right-click any item for its context menu.

Opinion Pin both panels while looting a building and unpin them before a fight. That keeps the screen clear.

The heart icon in the left column opens the health panel. The panel lists each body part with its injuries and the overall health state. Right-click a body part to bandage, disinfect, stitch or splint it. Treatment is covered on the health and first aid pages.

The info panel groups the rest of the character screens as tabs along the top of one window:

• Info: name, occupation, traits, time survived and zombies killed.
• Skills: every skill with its level squares and XP toward the next level. See skills.
• Protection: the bite and scratch protection each body part gets from what you wear.

Build 42 replaced the old right-click carpentry menu with two windows opened from the left column, above the map icon. The craft window lists item recipes. The build window lists walls, floors, furniture, stations and other objects you place in the world.

• Entries are grouped by use, such as carpentry, outdoors or farming, not only by skill.
• The build window has a Show All Building Qualities option. Turn it on to preview higher-tier walls, crates and doors before you unlock them. With quality filters active some recipes can be hidden, the standard composter for one (one source).
• Crafting stations such as the forge, kiln and workbench open their own recipe list when you interact with them.

If a recipe is missing, check the filters first. Recipe lists are on the crafting and recipes pages, and placement rules are under base building and carpentry.

Moodles are the square status icons in the top right. Hover over one to read its name and effect. The full list is on the moodles page.

The clock is not shown by default. It appears in the top right once your character has a timepiece. The wiki entry, written for Build 41, says a digital watch carried in the main inventory is enough and does not need to be worn. A digital watch also shows the date and temperature, and its alarm can attract zombies. One Steam thread says it must be worn, so if the clock does not show, put the watch on. Watches turn up on zombies and corpses. We could not confirm that this is unchanged in Build 42.

In single-player you control time with the function keys or the buttons beside the clock.

The game keeps running while windows are open. A multiplayer server cannot be paused this way.

Map. M or the map icon opens the world map, which fills in as you explore. Its symbols tool places icons and written notes. In Build 41 writing needed a pen or pencil and removing needed an eraser; we could not confirm the Build 42 rule. The corner mini-map is a sandbox option and is off on the standard presets; see sandbox settings and the map page.

Search mode. Click the magnifying glass icon in the left column to open the Investigate Area box, then choose Enable Search Mode. A white eye icon with a small arrow appears above your character when something is nearby, and turns solid as you close in. Walk; jogging or running cancels search mode. More on the foraging page.

Radial menus. Hold the key, move the mouse to a slice and release.

• V near or inside a vehicle or livestock: the actions for that vehicle or animal. See vehicles.
• Q: a tap shouts and draws zombies; a hold opens the emote wheel.
• F: toggles your light, and held it offers a choice when you carry several.

Names and choices come from a 42.19 options guide (one source) unless noted.

Opinion Turn the aim outline on for every weapon. It shows melee reach and which zombie a gun is pointed at.

Problems players hit, with the fixes one troubleshooting guide lists:

• The whole UI is gone. Toggle UI has no default key in 42.19. Bind one under Key Bindings and press it.
• One panel is missing. Press its key again (I, B, H). If it is off-screen, switch to windowed mode or pick a resolution your monitor supports.
• Panels stay in the wrong place. Quit, back up the Zomboid folder in your user directory, then rename Lua/layout.ini. If that fails, rename options.ini. The game rebuilds both.
• Text too small. Raise Font Size first, then the three panel fonts.
• UI broke after an update. Test a new save without mods. Build 41 UI mods do not work in Build 42.