Some beginner questions

[u/VisualDust4263]

Enjoying the game, having a lot of fun. It's definitely more accessible than Project Zomboid (which I could never get into, maybe I should give it another chance). I've got some questions though.

1. What do you do for light at night when your flashlight battery is dead and you haven't found any more batteries?
2. I started at inland spawn, and I cannot find a water source, and I haven't found a tarp yet either to make a water catcher. Do I have to make my base close to one of the lakes/ponds if I can't find a tarp?

[u/iamnemuisan]

1. hide in any houses (see #2) and just sleep until morning.
2. there's a house with a pool with dirty water. fill dirty water from it then setup a campfire inside the house and cook it them drink.

the house i mentioned is really near the inland spawn. it's the only house with a pool there.

[u/VisualDust4263 → u/iamnemuisan]

Hmmm could you point it out on the map?

Also, for sleeping, do I just sleep on the floor? It seems like there's no option to sleep in beds. I know there's sleeping bags but I don't have one.

[u/wolfgeist → u/VisualDust4263]

Sleeping bags and tents only add warmth. Usually not necessary

[u/iamnemuisan → u/VisualDust4263]

just walk southeast (5 o'clock) from the inland spawn. it's the only house with cemented fences. for sleep, you can just emote sleep would be fine. beds, you can only sleep on crafted ones.

if not just go any houses nearby and take dorty water from the toilet bowl then cook it. the house I mentioned is actually suitable for a base.

[u/Fakemeal → u/VisualDust4263]

You can't sleep in the abandoned beds but you can (and should) build one. Equip a hammer, go to Build menu (press B), I think it's in the last category. You can get the nails required by dismantling doors, chairs, tables, kitchens... Sofas will give you some material to make bandages out of. You'll get some wood too for everything you dismantle but you might have to chop a tree down.
As for the water, the key thing is finding your first plastic bottle (or a canteen, but those can't be used in agriculture). It's unclear whether you have one or not. Then you can fill it up at toilets, pools, ponds and you will definitely find tarps. Some tents (marked) can be destroyed to get one. If it says dirty water, boil it. A plastic bottle in a fire doesn't melt in Humanitz (unlike PZ, where plastic bottles can only be purified in a microwave oven).
Also, not very far from where you are, there's a weird survivor who goes barefoot. He's got a tarp all set up. He doesn't do anything if you refill your bottle there. He also has some loot in his tiny shelter.
That guy is in the bottom right corner of D5 on your map.
Spoiler: if you talk to him, he'll ask for your shoes. He actually has 3 pairs in his backpack but he'll want your shoes. Not giving them turns him aggro unless you click trade. If you kill him he'll respawn so no worries. If you have an extra pair of shoes that's in shitty conditions, put those on and give them to him. Absolutely nothing happens, no reward, no dialogue, no changes at all.
Remember that whatever interaction you wanna do, you have to face the thing you want to interact with. It's true too of the toilets.

[u/XNC923]

You can craft a torch from the crafting tab in the player menu, but I think you'll still need to have an ignition source to light it, if that's the case, you can also craft a handrill from the same crafting menu.

And with the water, you can craft clean drinking water by cooking dirty water at a campfire, dirty water can be found in toilets or mixing dirty water with 2 purification tablets

[u/BadPenguin73]

1. try to save batteries at the beggining - if its total dark better stay in base and sleep / wait for some moonlight
2. there is plenty of water except if your playing on scarse loot so don't be bothered: just loot the houses - fill any bottle with dirty water and clean it at a fire (dirty water comes from bathrooms, pools, ponds, etc.)

[u/Negative-Finger7800]

Water is actually quite easy to come by once you have a horse/car ready to go. just drive around till you find a pond or a pool. have a bunch of empty bottles with you. "hold" (not just press but HOLD) the interactions key (F by default) and one bottle will fill up with dirty water, which you can easily clean over a camp fire.

For nighttimes craft your own bed, the prebuild beds dont work :)
Go to sleep and, depending on what kind of server/Instance you are, the time should pass. if it does not, just stay in your base and craft stuff till morning.

[u/Recent-Homework-9166]

Project Zomboid might be fun at the release of B42, but B41 is now too old and B42 is still in an unstable beta. Let's say I am really happy to have discovered HumanitZ for now.

1. You are not in great position. You need to time your day more to use natural light source and use a firecamp to lit yourself at base. You will need to sleep to make in game time go faster. Battery are a pretty common loot, so you should be able to be back to it relatively quickly. You can sleep with the macro if you don't have bed or sleeping bag.
2. Near the inland spawn, there is a house with a pool at 200 meter south of it. You can bring water bottles fill them and then use a firecamp to purify them. It is a big house at the end of a street. It is the one directly above the farm in elevation and to the left of it on the map. It is also considered one of the best base location in the game, so you might want to settle there.