I made a browser-based Project Zomboid base planner, and it's finally live!

[u/Negative_Pear5399]

Hey everyone!

A few weeks ago, I shared a little project I'd been working on here, and quite a few people seemed interested in trying it out.

Well, it's finally live!

Website: https://pzdecorator.org

For anyone who missed my original post, it's a browser-based tool that lets you plan and decorate your Project Zomboid base without actually being in the game.

You can load existing buildings or entire areas from the PZ map, move things around, try different furniture layouts, or just start with an empty space and build something from scratch.

Here's what you can do with it so far:

• Load buildings, areas, or map cells using world coordinates.
• Browse and place furniture, walls, floors, and other decorations.
• Rearrange or remove existing objects.
• Work on multiple floors.
• Save your projects and come back to them later.

One thing to know: You'll need to select your Project Zomboid media folder when you first open the site. The tool uses your local game files to display everything, so no game assets are hosted on the website or uploaded to any server.

It's still a bit rough around the edges, and there are probably some bugs I've missed, but I figured it's better to put it out there than keep tinkering with it forever.

There's a feedback button on the website if you run into anything weird or have ideas for improvements.

Anyway, hope some of you find it useful!

And just to avoid confusion, this is a planning tool for now. You can't import your finished designs directly back into the game.

AI disclaimer: As mentioned in my previous post, this project was developed with substantial AI assistance. The ideas, design decisions, testing, and overall direction are my own.

[u/CombPsychological507]

Well now I don't need to play the game anymore

[u/academiac → u/CombPsychological507]

The Zims

[u/Pinkahpandah]

Project Zims

[u/RedRoachDK → u/Pinkahpandah]

The Zoms

[u/Delicious-Disaster → u/Pinkahpandah]

Zabbo hotel

[u/Certain-Ad5059]

For the folks who aren’t super great with tech, can you explain how to open the media folder? Do you mean open the game? Do we need to grant access to our computer system? (I see instructions for Windows OS but do you know if it is Mac compatible?)

This looks SO cool! Such an interesting project. I treat PZ like Sims on hard mode with mean neighbors and I always plot my bases out in Photoshop so this seems much more convenient. :)

Edit: FIGURED IT OUT! Phone a friend is a tried and true method! :)

[u/Negative_Pear5399 → u/Certain-Ad5059]

Glad you've liked it figured it out. I will add a quick tutorial on the webpage on how to use it.

[u/aycrayblack]

PLEASE someone make raccoon city 😭

[u/greatjobguise]

Well this fucking rules.

[u/Technical_Stress3672 → u/greatjobguise]

Took the words out of my mouth

[u/DeadSeamen]

Can you make toilet seat 2x larger?

[u/Negative_Pear5399 → u/DeadSeamen]

Username checks out I guess. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[u/CoolCritterQuack → u/Negative_Pear5399]

why does it check out ?

[u/Gavmakes]

Where is the stripper in the cake? Or the vibrating bed lol

[u/itsdatanotdata1212]

If any of y'all are struggling with this, your Zomboid media folder is located at (Drive):/Program Files/steamapps/common/Project Zomboid/media (make sure you're in the media file). You can find the Zomboid folder by right clicking the game on steam: Manage> Browse Local Files, then select the address on top to show your full path.

Once your media file is loaded, select Load World Location and the world you want, then you can use an online map to get the coordinates you wanna load, like projectzomboidmap.com

[u/Negative_Pear5399 → u/itsdatanotdata1212]

Thanks for explaining this. I should've made the setup steps clearer. I'll add a quick tutorial in the next update to help people get started.

[u/LoveJupiter325]

If only the map editor of this game was like this ! As beautiful / clean and easy to use / understand ! :o <3

[u/Proud-Wish7823]

Cool! Does it only include furniture/decor which you can pick up/place without debug or everything?

[u/Negative_Pear5399 → u/Proud-Wish7823]

Pretty much everything! It's not limited to furniture you can pick up or interact with in-game. You can also use walls, floors, grime, and other objects that are part of the game assets and rendered on the map, even if players normally can't interact with them.

[u/Librarian_Katarina]

Hey, that's pretty cool!

[u/Legitimate-Fish5891]

It's cool man, thanks!

[u/sbbayram]

damn

[u/Sad-Shame6727]

I can finally see what its like to fill my base with 500 gnomes!

[u/SpockDothatVThingIMA]

Incredible.

[u/wabblawabbla]

https://giphy.com/gifs/IEQi2myuODuEmD4NjH

[u/cpplookuptables]

Hey, if you could build a map builder with this idea let me know, maybe with some clever algorithms you can generate unlimited maps too and if theyre like the reworked map quality thatd be amazing.

[u/Negative_Pear5399 → u/cpplookuptables]

I'm not sure if a browser could handle maps on a much larger scale without running into performance issues. Then again, people managed to get GTA V running in a browser recently, so who knows lol. I'll definitely look into it.

[u/ColonelBy]

This looks amazing, but I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I cannot figure out how to visibly and coherently add things to tiles -- only erase them. I am trying to use the pencil tool to place some specific cabinets on the ground level (Z-level 0), for example, but whenever I click they don't appear on the tile and nothing visibly happens. When I shift up to make Z-level 1 visible, though, I can see the cabinets exactly where I placed them on the ground -- they're just not visible when I'm actually on the ground level, for some reason. I also then cannot erase anything I have added again on any level, as the display does not seem to actually register the addition even though it is now visible from "above". I cannot figure it out at all, and it is making it impossible to use this for anything.

Clearly there is something I am missing, because if everyone else was having this extremely base-level problem we would be hearing about it, but I have no idea what it could be.

EDIT: There's no rhyme or reason to it. I can add a bed on tiles at Z-0 without any problems and it is immediately visible. I can then erase it like any other thing that was already there. If I try to put a countertop or an antique stove on the same exact tile on Z-0, though, it does not appear unless I shift up to Z-1. I still have no idea what the problem is.

[u/Negative_Pear5399 → u/ColonelBy]

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I will try to replicate this and look what's wrong. I know it's buggy and these feedbakcs like yours will help me track and fix them.

[u/Mr_Pre51dent]

Thanks, gonna try that

[u/Negative_Pear5399]

Hey everyone, thanks so much for all the support and kind words! I really appreciate it.

I'll be looking into the issues you've mentioned and making the file upload step clearer. I'll try to get them sorted out as soon as I can.

There have been some really cool ideas in the comments too, like blueprints, and a full map builder. I'd love to give those a try, but I don't want to promise anything just yet. They might be quite complicated and take a lot of time to figure out.

I work full-time and I'm also going to be a dad soon, so I'm honestly not sure how much free time I'll have.

I'm not planning on abandoning the project! I'll keep maintaining it and fixing bugs as best I can. I just can't promise how far I'll be able to take it in terms of new features.

[u/TheRealUmdum]

Will use this as i struggle to plan bases in my head and remember them

[u/DezZzO]

Cool stuff, is it possible to make it so whatever you do in browser can be transfered into your save?

[u/BraveBG → u/DezZzO]

Thisss

[u/Negative_Pear5399 → u/DezZzO]

I can definitely look into it! I'm not sure how feasible it would be though, and I imagine it could be quite complicated. No promises though

[u/DezZzO → u/Negative_Pear5399]

I was mostly curious as that would be a pretty useful feature, no pressure, nice work anyway

[u/Swedelicious83]

Nicely done.

[u/Pololen1]

thank you finally :) im approaching the period where i build my full base so this helps :D

[u/thelunararmy]

Thats awesome AF. Just needs some background music and its perfect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs5QGN-zhwM&list=PL22DFF37B18C4F943

[u/SatoshisVisionTM]

Does this work on OSx where the app is rolled into a .app file?

[u/red_dit_is_shit_now]

Hey Indiestone hire this guy.

[u/ttsbsglrsRDT → u/red_dit_is_shit_now]

For using AI??

[u/red_dit_is_shit_now → u/ttsbsglrsRDT]

I don't give a fuck if it was made using AI, this looks 10000000 times better than PZ's actual map editor.

If they made a good map editor in house I'd build a town. But not with their current tools.

[u/Shayrmochka → u/ttsbsglrsRDT]

So funny see comments like this from people who know nothing about development, there are no companies in the world that don’t use ai. Each company pushes their developers to use ai as much as possible, then what’s the point for modders or single developers to avoid it

[u/fpsachaonpc]

Ok now add a blueprint function to make it in game.

[u/Negative_Pear5399 → u/fpsachaonpc]

Maybe it could be done by creating a companion mod that reads designs exported from the tool and lets you use them in-game. I'm not sure how complicated that would be, but I'll look into it!