Crafting

Crafting turns scavenged junk and gathered materials into tools, weapons, clothing, food and buildings. Project Zomboid splits it into two menus. The Crafting menu makes items, and the Build Menu places walls, furniture and workstations in the world. Together they let a survivor stop looting one day and start producing.

All Crafting Categories

Crafting Menu

The game's guide explains that the Crafting menu opens from a hotkey or a button on the left of the screen. A search there shows how to produce an item, and where an output item can be used. Some recipes can be made almost anywhere with the proper materials and tools. Some simple recipes run straight from an item in the inventory.

Other recipes need a hard surface. The guide names a table, a workstation or even a boulder. Stand beside one and open the Crafting menu to see the extra recipes. The most advanced recipes need a workstation. The guide lists many to build, from furnaces to churn buckets and drying racks.

A recipe can be blocked for several reasons. The crafting window may say "missing required item(s)", "recipe not learned", "requires surface", "too dark to craft" or "player is moving". Each points to the fix: gather the items, learn the recipe, find a table, bring a light or stand still.

Build Menu

The guide explains that the Build Menu builds static world objects and furniture, such as fences, walls and workstations. It ends by suggesting a post-apocalyptic mansion.

Walls follow a set order. The guide explains that wood or metal walls need a wall frame first. The frame then takes a wall, a door frame or a window frame. A door needs a door frame, and a window needs a window frame. A Metal Wall Frame takes a Welding Torch, Steel Rod and Welding Rods at Welding 2.

Doors, stairs and floors fill out a base. A Double Door takes 8 Plank, 8 Nails, 4 Door Hinge and 2 Doorknob at Carpentry 4. Log Stairs need Carpentry 3, and Metal Stairs need Welding 5. A Dirt Floor and a Gravel Floor cover bare ground. Door hinges and doorknobs come from disassembled doors.

Barricades are the first build most survivors learn. The guide explains that a basic wood barricade needs a Plank, Nails and a Hammer, and that barricading gives doors and windows more health. The Planks Barricade uses exactly that. The Metal Sheet Barricade and the Metal Bar Barricade need Welding 3.

Build Quality

Many builds come in two grades. A poor or shoddy version needs a lower skill, while a good or craftsman version needs more. A Brick Wall (Poor) needs Masonry 2, and a Brick Wall (Good) needs Masonry 5. A Metal Wall (Poor) needs Welding 3, and a Metal Wall (Good) needs Welding 5. The Composter (Shoddy) needs Carpentry 3, and the Composter (Craftsman) needs Carpentry 6.

Traits help here. Handy reads "Faster and stronger constructions." Mason reads "Better at building stone and brick constructions." Artisan reads "Better at pottery and glass crafts." The Welder occupation "Can weld foraged metal to create items and barricades."

Skills

Each craft has its own skill. Carpentry builds wooden constructions, and Carving makes small wooden objects. Masonry builds with brick and stone. Welding builds crude metal barricades and objects. Blacksmithing makes metal items at a forge. Pottery shapes clay, and Glassmaking makes glass. Knapping makes small stone objects. Tailoring sews and repairs clothing. Electrical builds and maintains electrical devices. Cooking makes better food.

Crafting trains these skills. Saw Log awards Carpentry experience, and Carve Plank awards Carving experience. The Crafty trait gives "Increased XP gains for Crafting skills." Skill books multiply the experience further.

Shelters and Outdoor Builds

Some builds use only gathered materials. The Lean-To Shelter uses Tree Branch or Wooden Rod, Stone, Log, Long Stick and some cord. The Leather Shelter swaps the branches for a large tanned hide. A Log Fence uses 2 Log and some rags, twine or rope.

The game's own tip explains that campfires are made with 3 Stones using the Build Menu. Tents are Moveables, placed and picked up like furniture. A Barbed Wire Fence needs a Hammer, Barbed Wire and Carpentry 5. Its tooltip warns that it "Can inflict surface wounds when climbed over."

Walkthrough

A new survivor crafts with what lies around. A saw turns a Log into Plank. Nails come from boxes and from disassembled furniture. A Hammer and a few planks barricade a window. Rags ripped from clothing serve as bandages and weapon bindings.

From there, the path branches. Carpentry leads to furniture, walls and workstations. Farming leads to drying racks, querns and looms. Smithing starts with a charcoal pit and a primitive furnace, then climbs to the Advanced Forge and the Blast Furnace. Every step opens new recipes.

Notes

• Kept tools can lose a little condition with each use.
• Magazines, schematics, traits, occupations and research all teach recipes.
• A workstation recipe only appears while the character stands at that station.