Today we’re dropping a Build 38 patch (38.24) into testing that’s full to the brim of fixes that follows on from Monday’s 38.23. Our current course is to pack as much in there as possible and make sure it’s all working correctly so we can minimise disruption to MP servers upon public release.

Vehicle Build 24 is planned for release tomorrow. As well as fixing up some load errors this adds in differing engine volume stats for each vehicle (actual sounds to follow), adds in missing parking zones for the vehicle-free parts of the map (Rosewood, March Ridge, Dixie etc) and introduces the canonical in-game brands for vehicle type.

Build 24 will also be reintegrating the car wrecks we had in earlier vehicle builds with a better zonal spawning system. The plan is that we’ll have certain ‘lore’ traffic build ups on the edges of the map where survivors suffering from the first wave of the infection tried to get out of the Exclusion Zone prior to their zombification – which in terms of gameplay will also help us flag where the edge of the map will be when you’re out motoring. Elsewhere, meanwhile, there’ll be smaller pile-ups and abandoned cars that’ll spawn differently for each new game you play.

There’ll also be improved vehicle placement spawn (rich homesteads will have nicer cars), better terms for the different car parts you can tinker with if you play as a Mechanic and hopefully a fix for the several players who were experiencing an irl game crash after in-game one.

Build 24 will also introduce suspension and a tangible differences in vehicle control when you go off-road – dependent on the sort of car you drive, and the suspension condition hidden within it. You can see this in the following video, though as ever please be aware that this is its first iteration and we’re aware that the low condition suspension in the second half of the clip looks like it’s out of an old rap video and needs toning down:

In terms of the next vehicles build Yuri is currently integrating Mash’s damage textures into the game – which will add variety, and also visual clues into a vehicle’s general condition. Here’s a few vids showing how they’re currently looking on the mean streets of Muldraugh. Please note, however, that Project Zomboid cars will not be chameleons – and the colour changing is just an example of the governing code we’ve got going.

Finally here’s a quick vid showing aspects of all of the above, couple with some improved ‘line of sight’ mechanics that fit in better with the way PZ works – although we’ll be wanting feedback as to how much testers get on with it. Again, the vehicle spawn-rate here is from a debug mode.

Once 38 is fully patched (and we’ve also finished current tasks to make the dedicated server build work with our fancy new internal automated build processes) then we’ll be promoting the Vehicles build up the beta branches and into our accustomed IWBUMS beta slot as Build 39.

It’s been said before, but just so everyone’s on the same page – in the background to all this Bitbaboon Mark has the new animation code working with the vehicle branch on a toggle, so it can soon be present in a deactivated state throughout the rest of vehicle development.

This will ensure that we can start ‘turning on’ the various anims features so it all gets integrated as soon and as well as possible for the builds that follow vehicles. This will also make development of different concurrent builds backstage a lot easier in the mean-time, as well as maintaining test branches when they become needed.

This week’s zombie hooligans from Ziron360. A general list of stuff added to PZ, and vids of features being worked on, is kept here – so you don’t have to plough through endless dev blogs for info. The Centralized Block of Italicised Text would like to direct your attention to the PZ Wiki should you feel like editing or amending something, and the PZ Mailing List that can send blogs like this and patch notes direct to your mailbox. We also live on Twitter right here! Our Discord is open for chat and hijinks too.