[B42 UPDATED] The "Definitive" Realism Settings + Recommended Mods Guide

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Hiya, if you're reading this guide then you're probably more interested in a grounded experience within Project Zomboid. This guide was the weird lovechild between researching the "realism" behind a zombie apocalypse, the way society would act and adapt and how the things we've grown accustomed to would fall and fail - while also just wanting a more hardcore but balanced PZ experience.

This guide/these settings are by no means perfect and I've only been able to spend about ~20 in-game days testing it so I welcome all of your thoughts and criticisms and potentially any mod ideas that fit well with the grounded and heavily RL inspired vibes.

Each sandbox setting will have a note about why I chose it or why I think it works, this is purely so you can understand the logic behind the decision and I encourage you to play with the settings as much as you'd like to make them more realistic to countries/cities you may live in if that's how you play.

Any setting not listed is the default setting, I put a decent amount of time and research into this so I truly hope you enjoy the gameplay flavour. (If I have to read about 90's Kentucky's energy supply one more time I may explode).

If this guide helps you out, please feel free to leave me a thumbs up and a favourite as it helps others find it!

Now let's get into it >:)

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I find the normal amount of zombies perfectly capable, however depending on the month(s) after the apocalypse started, lower zombie counts could make sense either through "other survivors" cleaning up or the dead simply starving. The opposite is true if you're willing to suffer.

This really comes down to how hard you want to make this on yourself. :)

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I find the original 1 hour days to be a little too quick for my liking, especially with the planning required with these settings. They do technically work on 1 hour for the purists out there, but try a test run first.

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Again, highly subjective and preferential (don't worry, we'll get to the nitty gritty soon), however I left these in to add a note specifically that playing from the time you actually /start/ the game can be a fun and challenging way to see if you'd actually be ready to fight off hordes of infected ;)

On to the good stuff.

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This was chosen under the assumption that the water runs while the electricity does and/or the smaller areas of West Point/Muldraugh/Riverside etc. would likely have multiple gravity fed standing water tanks/towers which could realistically last years unmaintained. For the sake of the game I figured we'd go with electricity - speaking of.

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I generally like to go with 0-6 months, purely under the assumption that due to the military and government's quick involvement in attempting to contain the spread of the virus and infected that they likely would have diverted or isolated power to key points in the grid specifically to help the military continue their efforts. It would likely continue without human intervention for at least a few months provided the fuel was added in bulk as I believe Kentucky primarily ran on coal plants around this time period until the further adoption of natural gas plants. 0-2 Months can be used in place of 0-6 as coal power plants, especially older models, can fail a lot faster without regular maintenance/checks etc.

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Probably pretty safe to assume most people wouldn't have bothered rigging up their alarm settings when faced with an immediate evacuation order or fleeing from fleshing eating creatures. However it's also likely those who were at work or on vacation wouldn't have their alarm settings changed, this setting can go between Extremely Rare or Rare.

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Most people tend to flip the deadbolt when they're home, however the setting could also be set to Sometimes, given the above reasoning.

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The vanilla darkness isn't nearly what the world would look like if people stopped existing in it, even counting streetlights and whatever leftover automatic lighting turns on at night; the world would be, or at least feel, significantly darker. For extra fun and to make handheld light sources feel a lot more worthy, you could try Pitch Black.

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Given how many intersections are lined with cars it's safe to assume the fuel stations were likely overrun by panicked crowds. Times of crisis don't bring out the best logic in people so regardless if the military was allowing people through or turning them away these places would be the first to go.

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The original speed of erosion is incredibly fast. Even without human maintenance concrete is expected to last around 50 years. Depending on the area you live, and the median rainfall, shrubs, plants, weeds etc. can definitely take over faster or slower however I feel 500 days/just over a year is more justifiable than a few months before the entire world turns into The Last of Us.

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This is more or less for the reasoning above. Vanilla farming speed is incredibly fast, the majority of edible plants found in the game have a real life counterpart growth speed anywhere between 3-8 weeks. I feel this setting helps make farming and prepping for future needs a much more viable and necessary thing to consider rather than a second thought.

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Again the vanilla harvesting feels a little OP, especially when you basically have to do nothing but sprinkle some water on the crops every day. This option makes fertilising & composting far more important. It also goes well with realistic canning and food preservation mods as the next season may just screw you over completely.

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Realistically this should be 3-12+ months but for balancing reasons (I know, I know, we're supposed to be hyper-realistic) this seems like the fairest option. We can all just pretend every compost bin is filled with vermicompost which can be harvested after ~4-5 weeks.

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Once NPC's are officially reintroduced this setting will be updated to Often, assuming it's still a variable once active AI are running around the map. Generally I do enjoy this option however the effects still play out in the middle of the wilderness and in very rural cleared out areas which makes 0 sense given you're currently the sole survivor.

However if you do want to roleplay that there are other survivors "somewhere" out there, you could also set this option to Often now in order to help move the horde around the map and make things a little more tense.

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No fire department means no one to put out fires; burnt out houses, storefronts and office buildings would be incredibly common. The people who were forced to stay or couldn't otherwise escape would likely horde and stash items as much as possible and dead survivors would be fairly common given there's no one left.

However I left this open to personal choice as I'm aware there are a decent number of mods that struggle or break with these settings enabled. The same goes for the other randomised options in this section. If using mods like Item Stories, simply disable this option altogether :)

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People changing their tyres on the side of the road probably wouldn't have cared too much about leaving their vehicles behind if a horde of infected were coming up on them. It also introduces more crash sites, accidents involving fleeing vehicles hitting people/infected etc. which makes the world feel a little more fleshed out.

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Self explanatory/same reason as above, makes the world feel more fleshed out given how quickly things went down.

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A great option for storytelling, but for realism and the time between the full outbreak and the "official" game start date, I highly doubt there'd be a tonne of maps scattered around with annotations. The local/rural residents likely know their region pretty well and wouldn't be venturing too far out until their deaths and tourists would either be easy pickings for the locals or in lockdown.

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Maggots will almost never leave their food source until they're ready to pupate, you'll almost exclusively find them in left out bodies.

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A quick note: These settings are meant more as a general guide for what I believe would realistically be left in an event similar to this, especially given how quickly the event itself went down. However I'm aware many people like to play with lesser loot settings and the mods provided/the rest of the settings should play perfectly well with Extremely Rare rarity as well.

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Fresh produce etc. are usually not the first things people grab in a bug out situation, if this feels too OP for you you can change food spoilage to fast (or change the rarity to Normal), however I feel this is balanced against the rest of the settings (electricity, farming etc.).

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Since melee weapons covers larger tools, instruments etc. I felt normal was a much more realistic setting, however as bats/axes/more are covered under this setting I didn't want the game to feel like it was spewing weapons at you.

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I avoid using firearms in my playthroughs as much as possible so them being around slightly more doesn't affect my gameplay at all. The reason I've put the setting up to Normal is purely because this game is set in the U.S.A. In Kentucky. I feel that's self explanatory but for those who don't know; there are more firearms in the USA than there are people, it would definitely be normal if not common to see firearms consistently especially in rural and farmland areas. This can be changed to Rare if you roleplay a more stripped down game world.

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The same reasoning as Ranged Weapons, also works if above is set to Rare.

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Medical items are fairly common in everyday life, almost every office/store/govt building in multiple countries is required by law to have some form of first aid/first response kit around. While most people may grab a medkit or two, the likelihood tweezers, medical scissors, etc. are looted in the majority of houses/offices/buildings is pretty low.

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Since this loot table covers things like fishing rods and toolboxes, I figured it should be a little higher up on the spawn rate as the majority of these items are fairly common in most countries/towns etc.

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This option is a little more personal choice as I understand having every book basically lets you blast through to endgame, however, in a realistic setting as the one we're going for, books would be incredibly common - if not abundant. I feel Common is a good balance between gameplay balance and realism.

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This option tends to affect clothing, random electronics, toys etc. which are items that would likely be left behind in the event of a catastrophic breakdown.

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Vanilla XP rates are pretty slow, my logic behind this is that studies have shown reading /and/ participating in the thing you're learning about has a higher mental retention rate than not actively participating.

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The default construction strength is incredibly weak, realistically zombies wouldn't be able to bust down a high levelled door (or you can just pretend there's extra barricading going on, as that's likely what would happen in real life). Also with the XP Multiplier set higher, farming repairs won't be as necessary.

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Pretty self explanatory, the vanilla injury system is incredibly quick to heal and not threatening enough. It also works amazingly well with Immersive Medicine (linked below).

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Unless the majority of your wardrobe comes from Shein, most department store clothing/surplus/survival/etc. clothing lasts a lot longer than vanilla.

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I find turning at the wrong angle, especially playing on multiplayer, can turn a regular attack into a bite. Can also be a personal choice.

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Like the random zone/housing chances, there's no one around in the official game lore (until NPC's), so it only makes sense you'd fine scattered vehicles people tried to escape in.

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Like above, most people would have either hunkered down or attempted to flee as far as possible from the larger cities and towns. Most parking lots and spaces on the sides of the road would be long abandoned.

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Most cars don't degrade after a week of sitting, even if they're idling. I like to think people took better care of their cars before the apocalypse but this can be changed based on the months after the apocalypse option.

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I personally play with Sometimes as I imagine the majority of people fleeing from their vehicles at overrun intersections or having to leave due to a horde coming in to their scavenging zone with no way to reach their vehicle probably wouldn't bother running back to lock the doors.

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Another pretty self explanatory setting, imagine thinking a 200lb beefcake would be as easy to take down as a 60lb basement dweller. Human bodies are wild and this setting helps reflect that.

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Like any virus, some bodies are more or less resistant to strains. Someone suffering from malnutrition would likely reanimate slower than someone who was in better health.

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Zombies aren't that smart, they'd likely only end up under a vehicle chasing vermin or a survivor. It'd be a pretty unlikely occurrence.

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Zombies are kind of like dogs, they might really want the squirrel that's right in front of them but if it disappears and another comes along, they'll probably go for that.

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This setting tends to make the world feel more alive, it makes sense that most zombies would try to "reach" or grab at things beyond their actual capability. Having this option off feels kind of cheap.

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Pretty self explanatory. If you trigger them, they trigger them.

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You're not seeing survivors so chances are the infected population has already peaked, but it's nice to have a little extra for the slow days.

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I borrowed this setting from a post about realistic zombie settings, the below setting accompanies it as it gives the illusion that herds and lone zombies roam the map on their own accord.

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Prevents zombies from bunching up/spawning in odd groups, also makes sneaking past larger groups of zombies harder as they tend to be more spread out.

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We made it to the end, this section will likely be the most updated throughout its existence as I try to find more and more realism based mods that work well together. I've tried to make sure the mods are compatible with each other and multiplayer but as with all mods, be smart and read the instructions.

The below mods are simple recommendations while the current WIP collection contains a much heartier dose of realistic mods. If you're only looking for a few here and there for a more vanilla-like playthrough I'd recommend reading ahead or subscribing to a few from the collection. :)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3111275555

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1969674962

Primitive Survival offers what it says on the tin. A new array of easy to make early game weapons, tools and recipes.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2659216714

A common sense and QoL mod for those of you that prefer to hole up in taller buildings. Also useful for fenced in houses.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2372994639

Since farming speed and abundance have been reduced I like having this mod around as something to stockpile in the homebase.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2618566294

Adds 5 new wild fruits to forage for which can be added to current salad and cake recipes.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2709866494

By far one of my favourite immersive mods, there's far too much to go into for this section but the mod author has provided immense detail on the workshop page. Goes incredibly well with the gameplay settings chosen.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2875848298

A huge list of QoL changes that just, well, make sense. Crowbars can be used to pry open doors, spears can be crafted with mops etc. Dozens and dozens of logical changes to make PZ feel much more grounded.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2903127760

A mod I love alongside Primitive Survival. This mod adds another big batch of QoL and common sense recipes, such as refilling lighters, improvised can opening etc.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2890748284

Another great mod I use in every playthrough. Being able to can, salt and smoke meats along with vegetables is a game changer with poor farming abundance and slow growth speeds. This mod also plays very well with the next in this list.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2937434637

35 new crops, new fruit trees, more recipes, and animals to take care of and slaughter.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917518699

Since injuries are much more severe in this settings list, growing your own medicinal herbs will be quite literally lifesaving toward endgame when the majority of medical loot has been looted.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2857548524

A mandatory mod for my own playthroughs, being able to run things without generators when the fuel runs out is incredibly satisfying.

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Firstly I have to give enormous props to The Indie Stone for the latest update, they've gone crazy with more realism options and a beautiful systems overhaul. Project Zomboid is on its way to becoming arguably the best and most down to earth zombie game of all time.
Not a whole lot to add compared to the original introduction, but for specificity sake - these settings are for the Build 42 Unstable and cover the majority of the new settings found in the sandbox options in this build. I'll also be going over multiple mod settings applicable to the B42 modlist found here:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3488503016

Thanks so much for reading, and remember, any settings not listed are supposed to be left default! - but you can be sneaky and adjust them for your own playthrough ;)

P.S - These settings were made with a Vanilla playthrough in mind, however I highly recommend the Tetris Inventory mod, the limited spacing the mod brings on creates a far more realistic environment. I highly, highly, highly recommend using this mod but the settings will work perfectly well without it.

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The same logic applies for the B41 guide, I find the normal amount perfectly capable. However, as in the B41 guide, this can be down to personal choice. :)
The rest of the settings that used to be labelled Population can remain standard.

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Common sense, zombies would move around the world consistently due to non-player interference such as animals, random sounds etc.

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I prefer Fast Shamblers simply because that's my preferred lore but I recognise some people enjoy Sprinters or Random for a healthy mixup. For this guide and the specific settings, Fast Shamblers will be plenty dangerous so use Sprinters with caution.

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The same logic I used in the original guide applies here, each body reacts differently to viruses, infections etc. so having people instantly reanimate after dying seems a little iffy to me. I like the idea of having to be extra cautious around recently dead teammates (once B42 is open to MP). If you're mostly keen on fighting your own character during a solo playthrough, this setting can be set to the default/0-1 Minutes.

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I wish there was a custom setting to turn the "None" option wayyy down, but I prefer variety in my zombies and having a few braindead/deaf/blind zombies feels fitting in a world where survivors and the military fought back. I would imagine the bombing runs likely deafened a few people before they turned, or newly dead people were feasted on and lost their eyes etc. I still think this is a perfectly balanced option though and feels a lot more lively than just having 'one setting chooses all'.

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I think of this setting as "A zombie saw/heard/smelt an animal/rotting food/cooking food in a house and decided to make its way inside." It adds an extra layer of terror when you hear the distant banging against a window or door while you're tucked away on the third floor of an apartment building.

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Another setting I had in the original guide and the same logic applies: If you trigger them, they trigger them. Don't forget to bring your brown pants.

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A controversial option? Sure. A realistic one? Most definitely. I enjoy a stealthy/combat-best-avoided approach to my gameplay. This setting makes it a lot more dangerous to involve yourself in a large group of zombies which, in my opinion, is the best way to feel about it. It might also make you think twice about cheesing fences to deal with groups.

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Self explanatory, but makes visited cells feel more dangerous as you leave and return, especially in fortified/base locations.

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I've only adjusted a few hours higher than default, but I feel that's fair given the faster overall respawn rate. This setting teams up with the Zombie migration setting.

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Another option I've included from the B41 settings. This option stops zombies from randomly spawning in huge groups and simply standing still (as migration only takes effect after x hours.) It should also allow a slight performance increase as multiple zombies won't be restricted to a "leaders" pathfinding (unconfirmed and anecdotal, but may help.) This option also makes stealth through larger groups much harder.

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I'm really, really glad this option has been included in the new settings. There was a lot of contention over my loot rarity in the B41 version, and I get it, but B42 offers a metric tonne of balance options regarding loot distribution and rarity. (Not to mention a lot more variables in regards to individual item group rarity)
For this option I'm choosing High, however if you find my loot rarity options still too unbalanced, Very High is a perfectly reasonable option. I haven't tested Very High, but I did notice on High the 'upgraded' loot rarity - along with the Tetris Inventory mod - seemed very well balanced.

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Again - another small adjustment - but it should light a few fires lit under your collective butts to get looting a lot quicker for a more intense playthrough. If you'd prefer roleplaying an active 'Live NPC' style gameplay or are using the Bandits mod, I would suggest lowering this down to 30 for an even more gruelling playthrough.

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Foreword: Loot rarity is a finicky thing to suggest, I understand many people like to play with custom loot variables so I'll be leaving this largely to personal choice. However, with the new sandbox options introduced in B42 the spread of the loot table has been made much clearer and these options will do their best to reflect that. If you want to play with Extremely Rare on all loot, this guide isn't telling you how to play the game if that's what you enjoy. This guide is simply meant to reflect what I believe would be the most likely loot distribution in a post-apocalyptic world. I'll still leave my thoughts and reasoning beneath each changed option and as with any section of this guide, any options not included are the Default settings.

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Perishable food would likely be overlooked in favour of Non-Perishable items. As with the original guide I researched this quite a bit and given the world went through its own non-apocalyptic pandemic not 5 years ago, it was pretty evident to see what items were taken and what items were left. I've left the option open to Abundant or Common due to (spoilers) the changed spoiling rate further along in the guide in order to balance this and allow people a slightly larger window to set themselves up in a more permanent location.

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I'm using the same logic from the original B41 guide here. It's Kentucky. In the 90's. People have guns. Even in rural Australia you'd be hard pressed to find someone living on a cattle station or a rural town without some sort of firearm. I've seen various sources anywhere from 40%-55% gun ownership in the US between 1990-2005 and realistically if you're busting out to escape the infection or simply trying to defend your home before you turn, you're probably not leaving with an arsenal. There will be guns left behind. Ammo, however, is a different story.

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A-haaaaaa, you thought you'd be absolutely loaded given the original guide, huh? Sorry about that. :( Let's think about this logically. Yes, you may have an abundance of firearms. Yes, you may have a tonne of ammo to go with those firearms - but if you leave your home? What are you taking? A few guns most likely. Your ammo? Absolutely. Ammo would be incredibly scarce, but finding the guns that fit them wouldn't be. If you really want to suffer, I suggest Insane, as I believe that's the more likely scenario.

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I'm adjusting this from my last guide as I still firmly believe medical supplies are relatively plentiful in the real world. I'm also keeping my original ideology for this choice, almost every office and public building have some form of medical equipment on hand as dictated by law. This also balances perfectly with the much harsher injury options we'll be including later. You could argue the 90's had far less intense laws regarding on-tap medkits/medical equipment, so if you'd prefer, Normal is just as valid - but good luck.

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I don't have a tonne to add to this option aside from the fact I don't think many people would be walking into a mechanic's shop and saying - "Hmm, I guess I should stock up on brake discs and mufflers." Realistically mechanical items would be the last thing people would be sprinting to a store for unless you're a trueblooded prepper.

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I'm leaving this as Common as I know skill books and certain magazines can be overpowered if left unchecked, though in an ideal world I would set this as Abundant. I can't imagine people burying or burning books during an apocalyptic event. Most bookshelves would be well stacked, though I do wish the option to disclude skill books and learnable magazines was an option.

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Similar reasoning to most of the above, of course you'd pack what you can but assuming you were rushing out the door I doubt you'd be packing an entire wardrobe. With the above Maximum Looted Building Chance, I think this is a perfectly reasonable option for clothing. The majority of wardrobes would be filled to the brim with leftover items that most reasonable people wouldn't consider worthy of taking. Then again, is anyone reasonable in an apocalyptic scenario?

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I think the option between Normal & Rare is relatively fair. People fleeing their houses may not have their keys on them, but those stuck outside in the sh*tshow would absolutely still have some form of keyring on them and I doubt many would 'fall' out of peoples pockets. (Although I get that this affects floor spawned keys too.) If you find them too common, I suggest sticking with the default option, otherwise I find Normal to be perfectly suitable.

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Not a tonne to add here, basically the same reasoning as the above two :) Normal works much better with the suggested mod pack, given the Lifestyle: Hobbies mod includes more positive and negative traits for music and video lovers - or haters.

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I'd imagine there'd be a decent amount of people that would want family photos/albums etc. taken with them, a la Lori from The Walking Dead, but I'd imagine a large majority would prefer survival over tokens of their past life, so I like to leave this on common.

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Another thing I don't think needs a tonne of lore to back the choice. Who's taking their rolling pins and baking pans in a situation like this? Realistically rainwater collection would be one of the easiest things to accomplish in an apocalyptic scenario, I don't think dying of dehydration is your main concern. Knives would also be relatively common place and given their new condition and can opening debuff, they make for perfect "last resort" weapons.

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Possibly a contentious one - but give someone a handful of tools found in most people's homes, and a desperate need to survive, I can guarantee they'll find some bits and pieces to tear apart in order to build their own shelter. I'm looking at this from the perspective of someone that can tear down and re-use prebuilt structures and won't look at a metal sheet like it's a spaceship. If you prefer to go all in on carpentry, there's no reason not to change this back to the default/Rare setting.

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Tools, like firearms in the US (and the world), are a dime a dozen. With the rarity values given throughout the rest of the guide, I think Common makes a lot of sense. I, again, highly doubt people would be thinking to grab their entire collection of tools as they rush away. Even moreso if people were stuck in their homes due to curfews/roadblocks/military orders. Garages would remain filled with a hodgepodge of tools.

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I'm not 100% sure on the exact nature for this option, but from what I've managed to gather I assume it relates to mostly miscellaneous items. Given the dubious naming scheme, this option can easily be left as Default/Rare.

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That's right, I'm not done with you yet. I've taken into account every piece of feedback I got about the original B41 guide and I'm here to make the already dire, extra dire. Generators are the one thing I would consider to be highly looted, drained or destroyed. This option makes some mods shine a lot more, such as the Solar Panels mod. (As far as I understand, this mod is still incredibly buggy. My playtest time with it has been sub <5 hours. While I haven't encountered gamebreaking bugs, please continue to check the mod page until stability is assured!)

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To keep things simple, and under the 8,000 character limit, I'm going to bulk these together. I've chosen 0-6 Months for water due to the same reasons as the B41 guide. 90's Kentucky, especially in rural towns, would have a multitude of gravity-fed water systems/towers and/or electrically pumped groundwater wells.

The same logic applies for power plants, as per my B41 guide: I generally like to go with 0-6 months, purely under the assumption that due to the military and government's quick involvement in attempting to contain the spread of the virus and infected that they likely would have diverted or isolated power to key points in the grid specifically to help the military continue their efforts. It would likely continue without human intervention for at least a few months provided the fuel was added in bulk as I believe Kentucky primarily ran on coal plants around this time period until the further adoption of natural gas plants. 0-2 Months can be used in place of 0-6 as coal power plants, especially older models, can fail a lot faster without regular maintenance/checks etc.

The numbered options are purely in place as a guarantee to shut off both options by the maximum time chosen. Not sure why this needed to be a sandbox option but who am I to question the almighty Stone? (Both numbered options correspond to their maximum month option).

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From the majority of sources I can find, batteries produced between 1990-2000 would last anywhere from 1-5 years. Specifically moreso in small use cases like alarm clocks, wall clocks etc. 0-1 Year sounds fair to me, given that the quality/installation of these pre-apocalypse batteries could be anywhere from a few weeks to multiple years. Hopefully it's random per item, however it should work regardless.

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Another fairly obvious/common sense choice, most people who left their homes early likely wouldn't have bothered setting their house alarms. The few who did are the ones you should worry about.

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Yoinking my reasoning from the original guide here: Most people tend to flip the deadbolt when they're home, however the setting could also be set to Sometimes, given the above reasoning.

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The original generator range feels incredibly underpowered, especially considering you're supposed to be 'connecting' it to the main power grid of the building you're in(?). However, with Ultimate Generator Overhaul, this option can be left untouched as it allows the entire building to be powered by a single generator - as it should be.

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This is more of a QoL option, as fuel and generators will become increasingly/readily scarce. This is mostly to slightly combat the more often than not completely empty fuel stations added in B42.

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Ah, you found me. The one who gave you an abundance of fresh food. I apologise; for what is given can, or must, always be taken away. It will rot, and it will rot fast. I hope you found a generator. :)
(Indie Stone please add an option for this to specifically include outside-of-fridge).

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Oh, some reprieve? Perhaps. Realistically speaking the original refrigeration effectiveness works well (and is surprisingly realistic from what I can tell), however with the above change I feel it's fair to allow it to work just a little bit better. I'd prefer a custom option for both this and spoilage but this should allow most refrigerated items to last the same while food spoils outside of it.

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Given both the era and location, I feel basements would be relatively plentiful. I don't think they add an enormous amount of imbalance to the difficulty scale, if anything I think they contribute heavily to it. One way in. One way out.

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Yet another option I've taken from the original guide, the original erosion speed is incredibly fast. It would take several years, at minimum, (based on the location) for the world to look like 'The Last of Us'. Weeds and several variations of unkempt grass would absolutely take over quickly. To have concrete and wooden structures erode that quickly would take a mutated form of nature, not an infection.

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The original farming speed in B42 seems to be fairly accurate across the majority of crops. For balance, and a little bit of realism, I've dropped the speed ever so slightly. The intention is to get people on top of farming and preparing for the lack of food a lot faster than they may initially have intended to.

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Again yoinking the option from my original guide, so I'll leave this verbatim: Realistically this should be 3-12+ months but for balancing reasons (I know, I know, we're supposed to be hyper-realistic) this seems like the fairest option. We can all just pretend every compost bin is filled with vermicompost which can be harvested after ~4-5 weeks.

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Similar reasoning as Farming Speed. The original feels incredibly fast, though this hasn't been thoroughly tested in B42. I would suggest using Sandbox Options to adjust this as needed, however for my general playthroughs I haven't noticed an unfair downside considering the other options of this guide. Permaculture and farming in real life require a large amount of dedication, I believe that should be reflected in a realistic setup.

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As someone that has lived/lives in a rural location, you'd be surprised how quickly field/general mice/rodents can take over various areas of your property. I can only imagine, and fear, what it would be like to live in a semi-urban environment at the end of the world. This option is roughly just under double the vanilla settings, I think that's entirely fair.

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I could simply refer to the above. Oh, you want more info? Okay. Rats breed like rabbits. Rabbits on steroids. And their young do the same. Once they start - with no human intervention to stop them - I simply wish you the best of luck. No, but seriously. Every apartment you've ever known in an urban environment that has even an inkling of food left will be overrun with the little runts.

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I generally prefer Never due for the same reasons I listed in the B41 guide. There simply are no other people (that you know of). However, random dog/wolf/fox howls and random animal noises do make a lot of sense so (we'll get to that though), I have tried both options and find they both have a place in this guide. Pick your poison.

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I feel this option gives a much more fleshed out vibe to the world. No firefighters = no firefighting. Houses will go down in flames, people will fight pre and post-infection while others hide. Definitely adds a fresh layer to each playthrough. Can absolutely be replaced with Rare if the playthrough dictates.

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Exactly the same as above. Police and military roadblocks would be a consistent device throughout an infection that was known well before its complete takeover. People would change their tyres on the side of the road before succumbing to 'helpful neighbours' that were actually turned individuals.

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I'll repeat myself ONE. More. Time. Nah, just kidding. I'll be doing that a lot. Let's be real though. Assuming the remnants of civilisation that got stuck behind during the lockdown and behind the roadblocks were real people, chances are they probably made their way out of town A.S.A.F*KN.P, so random camp fires in the middle of the woods with dilapidated camps would be incredibly common. Not to mention cool.

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The original construction strength definitely leaves a lot to be desired. I haven't tested the vanilla settings in B42 against the original so I have no idea if this has changed, however I think with the increased difficulty a slightly higher strength is warranted regardless.

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The original injury system, while very well fleshed out, leaves a lot to be desired. Unfortunately one of my favourite mods in regards to the health system isn't currently supported on B42 (though it's confirmed to be in the works). I think having a high level of severity for wounds will make a large majority of players stop and think about their individual actions, especially when confronting large hordes or desperately dashing through broken glass.

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I genuinely enjoy the new discomfort option, however I feel it's incredibly over-encumbering. I've worked with respirators/gasmasks and heavy clothing for hours on end. Was it fun? No. Was it doable without complaining 24/7? Yes. I think 0.8 represents a perfect mix between fair and realistic. Obviously running through an zombie infested wasteland while absolutely bogged down in holsters, a gas mask, bullet/stab vests and military fatigues isn't going to be the most fun time, but it's definitely doable.

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My logic from the original guide applies here too, clothing degradation is incredibly fast. Though I haven't thoroughly tested this in B42 and have no idea if this was part of an overhauled system. If you find clothing lasts way too long even when running through constant shrubbery or broken windows, I'd suggest changing this to the Default setting.

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Another simple logic upgrade. Firearms are definitely loud in PZ and will 100% draw local zombies toward you. However, as with ammo rarity, I want firearms to feel meaty, real and a last resort. This option is only slightly above Vanilla, but I feel it adds an extra sense of "Should I really do this?" type of vibe to your survival situation.

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I've chosen this mostly due to the fact I'm ADHD as anything and can easily re-read something I genuinely enjoy consistently. I belive just over a month is more than fair for re-reading books and magazines as plenty of time has passed. This option could also be left as Default or ~45-55 days.

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I feel this adds a lot more realism to the overall game, each magazine tells you what it'll teach you which makes finding them much more rewarding when you don't specifically know what you can/can't do.

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A very minor and simple QoL addition. Mostly due to how harsh the other settings are, I think this helps balance between realism and gameplay. It doesn't take an incredibly long time to learn things or build skills when you're consistently doing said skill.

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This is one setting I've toyed a lot with in B42, both driving and idling engine sounds don't seem to affect zombies nearly as much as they used to(?). I played between 1.25 and 1.5 and found the 1.35 to be a decent sweetspot causing zombies within, what I would consider, earshot to actually react to the vehicle in question. This also helps to balance the next option.

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Yet another option I've changed from the original guide. In the original I argued most people would have fled, but given the more intently placed lore surrounding road blocks and military encampments I feel vehicles would be far more commonplace in the game world. That won't make it easier to survive though ...

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Another option I've taken from the original. I don't expect the majority of vehicles to be involved in heavy accidents, though there certainly would be a decent amount. Most people take at least some level of care in regards to their vehicles. The majority of zombie media showcases a lot of working vehicles. Even if they've been left idling for a while, the major faults would be dead batteries or low/no fuel. I'd definitely like to see an option specifically for battery levels. (pls Indie Stone).

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I've played with Normal for a lonnnggg time and found even minor bumps do an insane amount of damage. I understand this is for balancing to make sure you're not just constantly using your car as a battering ram against the walking (or running) dead, but c'mon. I tested the Normal variant against a horde just to see what would happen and somehow the engine went from 100% to nearly ~23% after 15 or so hits at relatively low speed. I've hit 50kg (110lb) kangaroos multiple times, (on accident, I promise) at 100kmh/60mph, and the only thing that looked even remotely damaged was a slightly bent bullbar/maybe a misplaced front panel. I don't think hitting a zombie or a fence/fence post at <15mph is going to crush your engine or even contribute to anything other than some minor cosmetic damage/minor radiator/frame damage. This is even more true for the time period given that, while cars weren't as safe as modern cars, were definitely made with heartier materials and were designed to last. The next option should address any 'cheesing' options with this setting.

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This is more or less a trade-off for the vehicle damage setting, but I also believe this is a far more realistic setting as even a low speed collision can cause neck injury and limb fractures. I found it odd that this setting defaults to none, I prefer to have consequences to every action taken in PZ and if that means losing health/gaining fractures/gaining a pain moodlet for a heavy vehicle hit then so be it. ;)

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I'm assuming the majority of these settings will be adjusted on the full B42 release and that these settings are mostly set for testing purposes. That doesn't mean we can't make them work for us though. >:)
I'm changing this from Very Fast in order to make breeding seasons more realistic for the majority of players.

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I'm giving a huge thank you to Kitchen-Ad-1095 on Reddit for the majority of information I've been using to adjust these settings. From what I can tell the default settings are incredibly fast. (I wonder why they labeled them very fast/fast. Hmm.) From their analysis it seems like a calf to cow maturity takes roughly 40 days on the default settings, I assume this applies for the majority of the other settings too. This setting is designed to reflect a more realistic hatching time (i.e. ~21 days).

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The same reasoning as above, however this setting affects all livestock/animals in the game. From what I've managed to gather, setting this to Normal roughly translates to around 200 in-game days for animal aging. This was mostly related to Calf-to-Cow but this should allow more (game friendly) realistic aging for all animals. Otherwise this option can be changed to Slow for a far more life-like realistic experience.

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Not a tonne to add here, simply makes milk production in cows a little bit slower.

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See above. ^

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The fact animals always spawn by default definitely verifies to me that these are intentional test settings. However, for this guide I'll be reducing this to often. It wouldn't be uncommon to see wild animals and roaming livestock after the apocalypse. If you've ever lived in a rural area, whether in the US, Australia or literally anywhere outside of a heavy urban environment then chances are you've seen a cow or wild animal on the roadway. I do wish TIS would include an option for dead animal chance, but I assume the Months After the Apocalypse setting would likely affect animal health/aging/death rates.

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The default setting for grass regrowth translates to exactly 10 days. While this isn't uncommon, (highly dependent on grass type, climate etc.), I think 336hrs or 14 days is a much more realistic option. I'm not sure if rain levels affect growth, but I hope they do. This option can also be changed between 420 (nice) -504 hours for 2.5-3 weeks respectively.

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I like the idea that random foxes, wolves, wild/ex-tamed dogs etc. would likely find their way into the wasteland eventually/would likely reclaim human areas quite a lot. While I would prefer this to be based on physical/actual interactable predator animals, I still think this option has a tonne of merit.

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The same logic applies as your character; if you cough, sneeze, yell, or generally make any noise, they'll be attracted towards you. Animals aren't generally known for being super quiet, especially when frightened or socialising so having zombies be attracted to their noise would be the most realistic setting.

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Foreword: If you don't intend on subscribing to the complementary modlist that comes with this guide, you can simply ignore anything past this point. As mentioned prior the settings in this modlist were designed originally with a vanilla playthrough in mind, however I have curated a small list of mods designed to enhance the experience and create a more grounded and realistic playthrough. I'll be sure to list and link each mod applicable to their settings listed below.

To keep things simple and readable I'll just be posting the entire settings in a block format as they may be subject to change as the mods are updated/settings are tweaked.

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More to come as I adjust modlist settings.