Brief blog this week as, on top of what’s below, we’ve spent the last week and a bit running around and trying to work out an MP bug in which players would happily drive around a server, before teleporting back to where the server (and hungry zombies) assumed they still were. We’re very much hoping that this is now fixed, or well on its way to being fixed, in the just-released public IWBUMS 39.59 – and that we can then kick it all through the public release hatch. Some notes:

• The full changelist for IWBUMS 39.59 can be found here. It also introduces some requested mapping features such as the ability to choose which way cars are parked, and an ‘emptyoutside’ flag for covered areas and verandas etc on the side of buildings – this fixes some very unfair generator carbon monoxide poisonings, dodgy lighting and strange rooftop zombie spawns. The update also addresses initial high RAM use of dedicated servers, a compost crash and player-built structures made from metal obscuring your character.

• In preparation for the vehicles release, the PZ map has been updated with Build 39’s countryside/vehicle exploration additions between Riverside and Rosewood. Our thanks to Blindcoder for his work on this (especially when he has his hands full currently!) and to Kirrus for helping out with all the various clever stuff required server-side.

• For community mappers and interested parties: new versions of PZ tools TileZed and WorldZed have been released, alongside the latest array of Tileset images. Those interested in creating maps for PZ would do well to start with checking out RingoD’s excellent One Stop Mapping Shop thread.

• While we’re in this area we’d also like to thank the valiant Vaileasys for his current work updating the PZwiki. If you fancy helping out he says it’s a case of ‘more the merrier’, and he asks that you get in touch with him on the forum or on his wiki talk page. Oh and, also in the same ballpark, thanks also to our own Connall for work to improve the lot of our Community Translators.

Meanwhile, for the builds beyond vehicles, we have Turbo working on cloud drift visuals and night FX and colouring in his simulated weather and climate system – while General Arcade’s Stas is trying to finish off his gamepad work in time for it to be dropped in alongside his chat system.

Over with our new TEA boys team [Bitbaboon Mark’s new crew: hired to help with the anims implementation, and the many/varied features they’ll unlock] are getting on at a good clip – with some good ways to optimize emerging from Grant, and Schnitz working with model loading/textures and getting inventory/character more smoothly.

Finally, our music composer Zach Beever is also back with us and hard at work on new tracks that we hope to integrate in the builds that lie ahead.

This week’s Fear Pier from Arkona. 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.