PZTools Unofficial

PZTools Unofficial is a maintained Qt edition of the Project Zomboid mapping tools. It includes PZWorldEd, TileZed, and BuildingEd.

The project continues the work in Tim Baker's pzworlded and tiled repositories. It preserves basement and negative-level support and adds current Build 42 mapping workflows, portable configuration, native 256-cell support, image editing, mapping automation, compatibility corrections, and safer project maintenance. Malformed project references and thumbnail cache metadata are validated before they can reach editor containers or be reused as valid cached data. TMX maps and tile layers are limited to 300 x 300 tiles, including Native256 workflows that reuse legacy-size maps or building layouts. TileZed asks for confirmation before a map resize crops existing content.

Tim Baker created the original WorldEd and TileZed foundation. The current unofficial Qt 5 continuation, maintenance, new features, and fixes are developed by Alree / Unjammer, except where a change has another explicitly recorded provenance.

This is a community project. It is not an official The Indie Stone release. Project Zomboid game assets are not included.

This distribution adds the BuildingEd Studio workspace maintained by Zero / Z3R0-BYT3Z on top of Alree / Unjammer's current mapping-tools engine. The Studio layer changes BuildingEd's workspace organization and adds release-verification and unresolved-tileset safeguards without replacing the inherited TBX model, WorldEd, TileZed, or their upstream feature provenance.

• Current release changes
• Documentation
• Troubleshooting FAQ
• Feature reference
• Feature provenance
• Upstream history
• Build instructions

Included applications

Each main application window includes a lower-right message indicator modeled after Project Zomboid's error counter. A red box counts errors and an orange box counts warnings. A new message slides the indicator above the application status area, keeps it visible for three seconds, then hides it without discarding the message list. This includes messages emitted by background workers and warnings that previously appeared only in the log. Warning and critical message boxes are included as well, without counting the same message twice when it was just logged. Click a visible box to inspect the complete timestamped message, source and thread, copy one or all entries, open the logs folder, filter by severity, or clear the current counters.

The title of each main application window displays the current centralized build identifier so screenshots and reports can identify the exact binary in use.

The complete tileset catalogue shares the immutable pixel storage of exact duplicate extracted tile images within each application process. Sheet names, tile ordering, IDs, offsets, transparent tiles, and TMX declarations remain independent and unchanged.

PZWorldEd

PZWorldEd manages PZW projects, cells, lots, roads, zones, world-map data, terrain images, Biomemap data, Zombie Heatmaps, WorldGen definitions, OSM terrain imports, and LOT generation.

Important additions include:

• Native256 projects with one source cell mapped to one output cell
• Partial Chunks mode for selecting the 8 x 8-square chunks included in a Native256 LOT export
• Per-cell Native256 chunk-data overrides that paint explicit collision, wall-edge, water, and room metadata before LOT export
• BMP-to-TMX validation, optional repair, and Rules/Blends metadata-only synchronization
• Hole Detection based on actual tile presence
• Optional hole filling during LOT generation
• Generate Lots path choosers update the displayed history entry and active export setting immediately after the first selection
• Project Doctor for paths, missing tilesets, and project cleanup
• Build 42.20 Biomemap reference and separate red and green painting modes
• Main, vegetation, and Biomemap editing require a saved PZW and use the project directory for generated images
• Main terrain, vegetation, and Zombie Heatmap editing accepts PNG and BMP. Saving preserves the selected extension and writes matching PNG or BMP file data. Attached terrain images refresh in the World view after saving.
• The Maps browser sorts directories and files by Name, numeric Size, or actual Last modified time when its column headers are clicked.
• WorldGen biome, feature, and static-prefab editing
• OpenStreetMap project generation with terrain, vegetation, buildings, streets, roads, markings, and typed zones
• Regions and Street Names editors
• Native256 spawnpoints.lua output with absolute posX, posY, and posZ values instead of the historical 300-square worldX and worldY format
• Creation defaults and non-blocking export validation for SpawnPoint, WaterFlow, WaterZone, and RoomTone objects
• A right-click guided property editor for WaterFlow, WaterZone, RoomTone, SpawnPoint, ParkingStall, Vehicle, Mannequin, Animal, Basement, and WorldGen objects. It is available with both Select and Create Object, targets only the zone geometry directly under the pointer, and shows the fields expected for that type through enum lists, profession checklists, booleans, and numeric controls. Closing the context menu performs no action. The complete Properties dock remains available unchanged.
• Moving selected cells also translates Street points, Region anchors, Road endpoints, and fully covered terrain-image placements in the same Undo transaction
• Cell Move, Copy, Paste, Undo, and Redo preserve the complete cell payload, including maps, lots, cell and object properties, notes, templates, zone geometry, visibility, polyline widths, and InGameMap features. Ctrl+V and Edit > Paste both start the same pointer-following preview. Empty targets use a green outline and occupied targets use orange. One click pastes into the cell under the pointer and returns to the normal selection tool. Pasting into a non-empty cell requires explicit confirmation.
• Cell Paste updates its preview only when the target cell changes and reuses precomputed relative cell offsets, so pointer movement inside one cell does not revisit the clipboard contents.
• Partial Chunks lassos and the optional room-under-pointer highlight redraw only the scene regions whose visual state changed. Render diagnostics are disabled by default, and rendered-tile counting remains inactive until the diagnostics are explicitly enabled.
• Raster rendering does not retain a CPU atlas for every tilesheet. OpenGL atlases are assembled only for sheets that are actually uploaded, then the temporary CPU atlas is released after upload.
• Project thumbnails are owned by the open PZW documents that use them. When the final project closes, unused thumbnail images and every loaded TMX map with zero references are released immediately. The complete global tileset catalogue remains resident for deterministic legacy-map compatibility.
• InGameMap Forest export with the Forest pyramid and strict Build 42.20 binary-header validation before existing files are replaced
• InGameMap building outlines from both placed TBX lots and RoomDefs embedded directly in cell TMX maps
• InGameMap road generation with generic dirt-to-Trail inference disabled by default and available as an explicit preference when a project uses those tiles exclusively as paths. Generated road masks close isolated one-tile breaks, fill small enclosed holes, discard short internal fragments, and retain long or cell-crossing sections before polygon conversion
• Feature Generation preferences provide editable exact-tile catalogues for trees and primary, secondary, and tertiary roads. The Tree defaults include classic vegetation trees, jumbo_tree_01_0, and the Build 42 Jumbo, XL, and XXL tree tiles. Clearing a catalogue disables that detection.
• Non-destructive worldmap.xml and worldmap-forest.xml overlays in the World view
• Structured editing of Build 42.20 worldmap-annotations.lua text symbols from the first entry in InGameMap, the annotation button on the main toolbar, or Ctrl+Alt+A
• Basement entrance placement preview and visual access picker
• Right-clicking a TBX building lot opens it directly in BuildingEd. An already-running BuildingEd window receives the selected building instead of starting another editor instance.
• Confirmed vertical building-lot placement with source and resulting world level ranges, selected underground outlines, and a confirmed ground-opening action for basement stairs
• Linked World Projects manager for adding, validating, ordering, replacing, and removing read-only PZW references without editing project XML
• Cell View vehicle previews using the game installation's textured 3D meshes, scripted dimensions, model scale, model offset, and wheel placement for ParkingStall and TrafficJam zones, with a persistent mapping-tools atlas for fast reuse across sessions

TileZed

TileZed edits TMX maps, terrain layers, objects, RoomDefs, TileDefs, depth geometry, Automapper rules, procedural loot, and texture packs.

Important additions include:

• Complete recursive tileset discovery with 2x, 1x, and custom sources
• Dockable BMP and Brush windows with saved placement
• Rules and Blends replacement for older embedded TMX snapshots
• Indexed Rules and Blends brush updates with sparse dirty-region processing
• Exact rule-tile resolution when similarly named custom or test sheets exist
• Safe, undoable tileset removal with MiniMap synchronization and automatic Rules and Blends layer rebuilding
• Layer-aware and floor-aware tile selection
• Copy captures the selected layers and levels. Cut captures and removes them. Neither command starts placement. Ctrl+V activates a translucent pointer-following preview, then one click places the complete selection.
• Stamp and Fill previews retain their tilesets until the preview is replaced or cleared, including when Undo removes a newly introduced tileset from the TMX.
• Partial Chunks mode shared with WorldEd for Native256 TMX maps
• Edge, Fence, and Curb previews ignore pointer movement that does not change the effective tile, orientation, level, layer, selection, mode, or modifier. Their resolved definition tiles are cached for the complete preview and are invalidated by real map, layer, configuration, and tileset changes.
• Partial Chunks lassos redraw only changed chunks. Tile edits use the affected layer's sprite margins, and BMP edits use the generated BMP layers rather than the map-wide maximum, so unrelated Jumbo tiles do not enlarge ordinary dirty regions.
• Depth Map primitive editing with Build 42 local geometry dimensions, projected outline dimensions, movable saved panels, and reusable presets
• TileDef comparison and Snow, Burnt, and custom replacement editing
• A tileset tile's context menu resolves the configured .tiles or .tiles.txt file that defines it, opens that file in the TileDefs editor, and selects the exact tileset and tile index
• Fast pack extraction for individual tiles, tilesets, and multi-tile objects
• Optional orphan-pixel cleanup during extraction
• Lua mapping tools with transactional Undo
• BuildingEd actions and TBX opening launch the standalone BuildingEd process. TileZed does not host a second embedded editor.
• Narrow Tilesets docks retain every command through the toolbar overflow menu.
• Layer and level visibility thresholds are restored from the portable INI.
• The Layers and Levels visibility sliders stay synchronized, clamp stored values to the open map, and provide Check All and Uncheck All from the Layers list context menu.
• Bracket-key shortcuts are stored without being mistaken for configuration lists. Older shortcut files that lost the default Decrease BMP Brush Size [ binding restore it automatically.
• The Maps browser sorts directories and files by Name, numeric Size, or actual Last modified time when its column headers are clicked.
• The Qt raster viewport is used consistently. The experimental OpenGL viewport is disabled to avoid driver-dependent Brush Tool slowdowns. Render diagnostics are disabled by default.

BuildingEd

BuildingEd creates and edits TBX buildings, rooms, floors, walls, roofs, objects, furniture, basements, and negative levels.

TBX is an optional authoring and reuse format. A valid TMX can contain its buildings and all placed tiles directly without retaining separate TBX files.

Important additions include:

• The BuildingEd Studio workspace groups Blueprint, Isometric, Tiles, and Attributes in a labeled mode rail and presents the main creation tools with high-contrast SVG artwork.
• Room, floor, fit-to-view, centering, and zoom controls are grouped around the editing context, while less common object and roof actions remain available through the existing menus and toolbar overflow.
• The dark Asset Browser provides search, category counts, Tiles and Furniture views, preview details, and a reserved Favorites view. Favorites persistence is not implemented in this release.
• Building saves are blocked when referenced tilesets are unavailable, so an unresolved TBX cannot silently discard or replace those tile references.
• Complete tileset discovery shared with TileZed and WorldEd
• Layer-aware and floor-aware tile selection
• Copy and cut preserve RoomDefs and room layouts together with selected tile layers. Cut removes room layouts only when All Layers is selected. Current Layer, Visible Layers, and Specific Layers remove only their selected explicit tile layers. Paste without a destination selection provides a translucent, click-to-place preview in the Ortho and isometric views.
• Copied RoomDefs are recreated as building-owned rooms during placement, so replacing the clipboard cannot invalidate pasted room floors.
• The placement preview uses a validated, immutable snapshot of copied tiles and rooms instead of traversing live clipboard grids on every mouse move. Converted isometric preview tiles are reused while the pointer moves.
• Tile previews redraw only their affected isometric area. Extended margins are applied only to Jumbo, Jumbo XL, and Jumbo XXL tiles, and preview tile lookup no longer rebuilds the complete tileset catalogue on each move.
• The Qt raster viewport uses minimal dirty-region updates. The experimental OpenGL viewport is disabled, and render diagnostics are off by default.
• Structural edits regenerate automatic building layers only for the visible Object, Tile, or Attribute mode. Hidden isometric views synchronize when their mode is opened instead of repeating the same floor-wide work after every room, wall, window, door, stair, roof, or furniture change.
• Placement previews and object dragging update only the temporary structural plan. Committed object and room edits regenerate automatic layers around the affected cells, including the floor above for stairs and similar objects. An object committed from its active preview reuses that prepared temporary structure.
• Switching between Iso, Tiles, and Attributes repaints the current level as soon as the destination mode becomes visible, including buildings without rooms.
• A running BuildingEd instance receives TBX files opened from PZWorldEd, TileZed, Explorer, or another BuildingEd launch.
• Closing a TBX releases its building model and all per-document editor views so closed buildings do not accumulate during a long session.
• TBX tile definitions replaced by matching catalogue entries remain valid for the lifetime of the building, preventing stale references while automatic layers and the preview map are constructed.
• Older TBX tile entries are expanded to the current category layout during loading. Stair objects with an empty tile entry remain valid and no longer crash automatic-layer or welcome-thumbnail rendering.
• Room tile actions require a valid selected tile row. Clear, Random, and Choose remain disabled when only a room row is selected.
• Editing a room name or internal name commits when the field is finished or a list entry is selected. Text entry no longer rebuilds every isometric floor after each character.
• Buildings are limited to 300 x 300 tiles during creation, loading, and resizing. A resize that would crop content requires confirmation.
• Pasting beyond an edge expands the building up to that limit while preserving and shifting existing rooms, user tiles, square properties, objects, and basement access. A paste that would exceed the limit requires confirmation and crops only clipboard content outside the building bounds. One Undo restores the complete pre-paste state.
• Copy checkpoints the recoverable autosave when the document already contains unsaved changes. Timed autosave remains paused while a cut or paste transaction is incomplete and resumes only after the coherent final state is available.
• Preserved room-floor definitions across save and reopen
• Procedural-loot inspection and project overrides
• Lua building automation with transactional Undo
• Configurable autosave at 1, 5, 10, 20, or 60 minutes
• The Layers visibility threshold is restored from the portable INI.

First setup

1. Extract the release to a writable directory.
2. Start any of the three applications.
3. Select the mapping Tiles directory that contains the PNG sheets.
4. Select the packaged config directory if it was not found automatically.
5. Optionally select the Project Zomboid installation in Preferences.

The shared Project Zomboid path can supply official TileDefs, texture packs, WorldGen data, procedural-loot definitions, and vehicle preview assets. It does not replace the extracted mapping Tiles directory required by the renderers.

Cell View vehicle previews

Set the Project Zomboid installation path in WorldEd Preferences, open a cell, then enable View > Show Vehicle Mesh Previews. WorldEd displays textured vehicles on ParkingStall vehicle zones and on rectangular or polyline TrafficJam variants. Nav and other navigation zones are not vehicle zones and do not receive a preview.

Vehicle display size, render quality, atlas status, and atlas rebuilding are grouped in the separate Preferences > Vehicles tab.

The preview reads the installed vehicle scripts, VehicleZoneDefinition.lua, textures, legacy text meshes, and binary FBX meshes. The zone name selects its actual vehicle category, so Police, Fire, Ranger, Ambulance, Junkyard, TrafficJam, and ordinary ParkingStall zones use their own distributions. The default spawn rate and the normal, special, and burnt-vehicle chances determine whether a vehicle appears and which distribution supplies it. Shared and aliased Lua distributions retain their configured weights.

The ordinary installed ParkingStall distribution is intentionally sparse. Several nearby stalls can therefore display no vehicle while other parts of the same cell do. This is a deterministic preview of the configured spawn density, not an atlas-loading failure.

Vehicle type, game-scale dimensions, scripted randomAngle, Direction, FaceDirection, stall spacing, TrafficJam lane direction, and TrafficJam angle variation are used to create a deterministic editing preview. Each zone and position receives a stable result, so representative density, category, model, and orientation do not change on every repaint. The renderer preserves the resource-model scale, vehicle-model scale, and vehicle-model offset instead of stretching every body independently to its physics extents. It attaches the installed wheel mesh at each scripted wheel position and applies the same model offset, scale, and ground alignment to the complete assembly. Named bodies are selected correctly from FBX files containing multiple geometries.

WorldEd checks its persistent vehicle atlas before calculating a mesh preview. Each cached sprite contains the selected body, texture, linked wheels, render quality, and direction. The atlas supports 16 directions and is stored below settings/cache/vehicle-preview-atlas in the mapping-tools installation. Its asset fingerprint covers the relevant game scripts, models, and textures, so a changed game installation creates a separate valid cache instead of reusing stale images. WorldEd never writes the cache into the game installation.

Preferences > Vehicle Previews > Preview size controls a display correction from 0.25 x to 4 x in 0.25 steps. The default is 1 x, which represents the dimensions calculated from the installed vehicle script and model resource. Changing this display-only value keeps the vehicle centered on its actual zone anchor. Preferences > Vehicle Previews > Render quality controls the internally calculated image resolution from 0.25 x to 4 x. It changes sharpness, memory use, and calculation time without changing the displayed size or zone anchor. The default is 2.5 x, while lower values reduce memory use and calculation time. When preview size exceeds render quality, WorldEd automatically uses the preview size as the effective atlas quality so an undersized sprite is never enlarged into a blurry result. The same group reports the atlas state for the selected game installation and quality. Rebuild Atlas clears only that matching cache and precomputes all 16 directions for every vehicle used by the installed zone definitions. An existing eight-direction cache remains usable through the nearest stored orientation until it is rebuilt. A cancelled rebuild keeps the completed sprites, so later previews can reuse them. The game can still omit vehicles or vary their exact position, angle, skin, damage, and density at runtime because those results depend on sandbox settings and random spawning. The preview does not change the PZW, TMX, zone definitions, or game files. No game asset is copied into the mapping tools distribution.

Vertical Placement is available from the context menu of a selected building lot. The menu shows the source level range stored by the TBX or TMX and the current resulting world range. Lowering, raising, or returning a lot to level 0 requires confirmation and previews the resulting range before the project is changed. The operation shifts the complete source uniformly, including floors, walls, windows, stairs, RoomDefs, objects, and collision layers. A source that already stores its basement on negative levels normally remains at lot level 0. Dragging a lot into another level group in the Lots panel requires the same explicit confirmation, while reordering lots within their current level does not. LOT generation records every nonzero vertical placement and its source and world level ranges in the application log. Generation stops if a manual project edit would place content outside the supported world levels.

Basement access resources use the portable directory beside bin:

• pzby_tbx/basement_access for editable TBX and TMX sources
• pzby_tbx/binmap for compiled PZBY files

WorldEd searches both portable resource directories recursively and detects files added while the application is running. A basement-access source does not need to contain a staircase or a dedicated anchor. WorldEd displays the complete TBX or TMX as a translucent overlay aligned to the Basement trace origin. The source is loaded only when its Basement object is selected, so opening a cell does not load every access used by that cell. Right-click the Basement zone itself with Select or Create Object and choose Choose Basement Access... to browse the available access names with a visual preview. This action is never offered for another zone type.

Each application provides an autosave interval in Preferences. WorldEd and TileZed save only an existing modified PZW or TMX. BuildingEd retains its recoverable .autosave copy workflow. Untitled projects are never assigned a path automatically. Copy checkpoints autosave when unsaved edits exist. Autosave pauses during complete cut, paste, paint, and resize transactions and resumes only after the document is coherent.

Spawn points and Lua zone export

WorldEd stores each SpawnPoint in its source cell with local coordinates. When it writes spawnpoints.lua, it adds the configured World origin, multiplies the resulting cell coordinate by the project cell size, and adds the local position. A Native256 point at cell 17,54 and local position 31,123 is therefore written as { posX = 4383, posY = 13947, posZ = 0 }.

The generated file keeps the existing SpawnPoints() function, profession tables, point lists, and posZ. It no longer writes worldX or worldY. WorldEd shows the same absolute coordinates in the visible SpawnPoint label.

New SpawnPoints default to the explicit unemployed profession. New WaterFlow objects default to a 1 x 1 rectangle with WaterDirection = 0 and WaterSpeed = 0.0. New WaterZones receive WaterGround = false and WaterShore = true without reducing a valid larger water area. New RoomTone objects default to a 1 x 1 rectangle with RoomTone = Generic and EntireBuilding = false.

Lua export omits an invalid SpawnPoint, WaterFlow, WaterZone, or RoomTone record and lists the exact reason. The object remains in the PZW for repair, the project remains saved, and LOT generation remains available. Correct the reported geometry or properties and save or export again to include it.

Partial chunk LOT export

Native256 maps can use Partial Chunks when a cell should contain only a small building, zone, or playable area. Open the cell TMX in TileZed or open the WorldEd cell view, then use the dedicated Partial Chunks menu or toolbar. The 256 x 256 cell remains the normal editing canvas while a 32 x 32 chunk grid shows the export mask.

Each grid square represents one complete 8 x 8-square game chunk. Click a chunk to toggle it. Drag across the grid to select or clear a rectangular group. The state of the starting chunk determines whether the dragged group is included or omitted, and the overlay previews the result until release. Included chunks use a light tint and omitted chunks are darkened. Ctrl+A or Select All Chunks includes all 1024 chunks while the mode is active. Clear Chunk Selection omits all of them. These actions select export coverage, not the tiles inside the TMX, and do not delete or rewrite source layers. The grid line and included-chunk tint use the existing Grid color from Preferences, so WorldEd and TileZed can each display the mask in a user-selected color.

How Partial Chunks Works... in either Partial Chunks menu shows the same workflow and export rules inside the application. Disable the mode while performing normal tile or object editing, then re-enable it before partial LOT generation. The saved chunk choices are retained while the mode is disabled.

The selection is stored beside the TMX as map-name.tmx.pzchunks. Keep this file with the TMX when moving or sharing the source project. A map without an enabled sidecar retains conventional whole-cell behavior.

While Partial Chunks is enabled, Hole Detection and automatic hole filling are disabled for that cell. Generate Lots writes selected chunks normally and encodes omitted chunks as absent LOT data and null navigation chunks. RoomDefs, room objects, used-tile headers, and zombie intensity are limited to the selected chunks. A selected chunk may be empty by design. An omitted chunk is absent from the exported LOT even if its TMX area contains tiles. This mode is available only for Native256 projects.

Native256 chunk-data overrides

Select one cell in a Native256 project, then open Tools > Terrain & Environment > Native256 Chunk Data Overrides. The editor stores one optional 256 x 256 RGBA PNG for that cell. One image pixel represents one map square. Transparent pixels keep the value that WorldEd normally generates from the TMX, TBX, rooms, and tile definitions. Opaque pixels replace that generated value. The red channel contains a value from 0 through 31. Green and blue must be zero. Right-drag restores transparent automatic generation.

The PZW stores the PNG reference on the cell. Cell Move, Copy, Paste, Undo, and Redo preserve that reference. Generate Lots validates every attached PNG before starting and stops with the affected cell and reason if a file is missing, unreadable, the wrong size, or contains unsupported channel values. Legacy300 projects cannot attach or export this data.

Build 42.20.3 MapCollisionData defines five flags for each level-0 square:

• 0 means none of the five flags is set. An explicit opaque zero can turn a normally generated square into empty collision metadata.
• 1, Solid, marks the complete square as solid in native collision and path data. The game normally derives it from a solid or solid-transparent square or from stairs, then removes it for water and tree squares.
• 2, North wall, blocks the north edge. The game normally derives it from north collision, north door frames or door walls, and north window flags. A hoppable north edge is not marked blocked.
• 4, West wall, applies the equivalent rule to the west edge using the west collision, door, window, and hoppable flags.
• 8, Water, marks the square as water in native collision data.
• 16, Room, marks the square as belonging to a room.

Flags combine by addition. For example, 17 is Solid plus Room, and 22 is North wall plus West wall plus Room. The tool permits every combination from 0 through 31 without claiming that every combination is sensible for the game. Use the smallest combination required for the intended test.

The game passes each chunkdata_x_y.bin file to the native collision system when it initializes a meta cell in single-player or on a server. It does not initialize this system on a game client. Native path tasks consume this data. When an actual 8 x 8 chunk later loads or a level-0 square changes, the game recalculates these same five bits from the real square. The override therefore controls the generated initial metadata. It does not alter the TMX, tiles, TileDefs, or the loaded square itself.

WorldEd still has an internal null or absent marker used by Partial Chunks and empty source coverage. The editor intentionally does not expose it because it is outside the five values visible in MapCollisionData. Leave a pixel transparent when WorldEd should retain its normal null or generated state. An omitted Partial Chunk remains absent and takes priority over override pixels inside that chunk.

In Preferences > Window Setup, Use 1920 x 1080 immediately resizes and centers only the current application. Apply to Current Application does the same with the entered custom dimensions. Apply to All Three Applications also starts the other two tools with that size. These actions are temporary and the previous saved layouts return on the next normal start.

World-map XML overlays

Open View > World Map Overlays to load worldmap.xml or worldmap-forest.xml over the World view without importing their features into the PZW. Loading worldmap.xml also loads an adjacent worldmap-forest.xml when present. The two overlays can then be shown, hidden, or cleared independently. Forest geometry is green. Buildings, water, roads, railways, and other world-map geometry use distinct colors. Loaded overlays are read-only and never change project data or exported files. The overlay renderer spatially batches geometry and skips batches outside the visible World view. Build 42.20 world-map files always use 256-square cells. WorldEd therefore places overlay geometry from absolute map-square coordinates, independently of whether the open project uses Native256 or Legacy300 cells. Newly written XML includes cellSize="256". Older XML without this attribute defaults to the Build 42.20 grid, while clear legacy 300-square geometry is detected when local coordinates exceed 256.

Write Worldmap and Write Worldmap-Forest now normalize both the XML and binary outputs to the Build 42.20 256-square grid. Legacy300 project features that cross a 256-square boundary are split into the required output cells without changing their absolute map-square position. Native256 projects remain one-to-one.

World-map export also accounts for every expanded road polygon triangulated by the Build 42 renderer. A cell that would exceed the renderer's signed 16-bit index position is simplified conservatively. If simplification alone is not enough, only the smallest internal road fragments required to make the export safe are omitted from XML and binary output. The PZW source features are never changed, and the portable log identifies every affected cell and road class.

InGameMap > Generate Building Features detects placed TBX lots and RoomDefs embedded directly in assigned cell TMX maps. Room rectangles are merged into building outlines. Disconnected footprints remain separate and negative basement levels are excluded from the surface outline.

InGameMap > Create World Image uses the packaged MapToPNG.txt color rules. This file is different from terrain Rules.txt. The dialog selects the packaged file by default and replaces an invalid remembered rules path.

Linked World Projects

Open World > Linked World Projects... to manage the PZW files historically stored as otherworld XML entries. The manager reports each linked project's path, grid format, World origin, size, relative placement, coverage, overlap, and validation status. It prevents self-links, duplicates, unreadable files, and mixed 256 or 300 cell grids. Existing broken entries remain visible for replacement or removal.

Linked projects are read-only visual references. They are not merged into the current PZW and their content is not exported by Generate Lots. Their position is the linked World origin minus the current World origin. Open and save a linked project to change that origin, then use Refresh in the manager. Changes to the list support Undo and are saved through the normal PZW workflow. Use View > Show Linked World Projects for visibility.

See the Linked World Projects guide for the complete workflow and PZW compatibility details.

Tileset compatibility

All three applications discover valid PNG sheets recursively.

1. A readable 2x sheet is preferred.
2. A readable 1x or custom sheet is used when no 2x sheet exists.
3. A missing placeholder is used only when neither scale resolves.
4. One-scale-only sheets remain valid.
5. Nested official pack directories and custom directories are supported.

TMX files retain their complete ordered tileset headers. This is required for older maps, adjacent cells with different firstgid values, and embedded BMP rules that reference tiles not currently painted on a normal tile layer.

A fully transparent cell in a resolved sheet is valid and remains distinct from a missing PNG. BuildingEd tile, furniture, mixed-tileset, and Building > Tiles browsers display transparent and explicitly invisible tiles with a crossed-eye marker. Unresolved sources use a separate red missing-source marker. Tile makers should assign the invisible TileDef property to intentional transparent placeholders so Check Maps can distinguish them from accidental empty artwork.

Portable configuration

The Windows release keeps its writable state inside the extracted directory:

PZTools-Qt5-Latest/
|-- bin/
|-- brushes/
|-- config/
|-- docs/
|-- licenses/
|-- lua/
|-- plugins/
|-- settings/
|-- themes/
`-- translations/

Preferences and logs are stored under settings. Logs include OS, CPU, RAM, display-adapter, Qt, and process information useful for support without recording a username, hostname, serial number, IP address, or stable machine identifier.

WorldEd reloads the tileset catalogue only when the effective Tiles directory changes. Confirming other Preferences does not rebuild open maps or lots.

Packaged themes are refreshed automatically when the release provides a newer QSS definition. Built-in dark and colored themes also apply matching Qt palette colors to application-drawn text, menus, selections, and tooltips. BuildingEd welcome content, tileset lists, editable zoom controls, and tile preview canvases follow the active dark palette unless the user selected a custom tile-preview background color. High-contrast SVG artwork is used for tools whose original black silhouettes were unreadable on dark backgrounds. Additional QSS files placed in themes remain user-managed and are not overwritten.

Project safety

Guided repair and conversion tools show their inputs and outputs before writing. Project Doctor begins with a read-only check. Destructive project corrections create backups and use atomic file replacement where supported. TMX tileset use is verified from raw GIDs even when a referenced PNG is missing. TBX inspection is diagnostic only and never rewrites a building. Game installation data is treated as a read-only source. Project overrides belong in the mapper's project or mod directory.

Why do unofficial mapping tools exist?

Public source does not automatically provide a usable current release. The mapping community has repeatedly needed matching executables, configuration, Tiles support, documentation, and corrections before complete official tools were available. Community maintenance made current Build 42 formats usable by active mappers and preserved workflows for long-lived projects.

This project exists to keep those tools practical, understandable, and available. It remains open source so anyone can inspect it, improve it, or maintain another build.

You're welcome. It was my pleasure.

Documentation and issue reports

• Documentation index
• Offline documentation home
• Feature reference
• Configuration files
• Project Doctor
• WorldGen editor
• Procedural loot editor
• Pack comparator and extractor
• TileDef tools
• Logs and issue reports
• Feature provenance
• Upstream history
• Current release changes

A useful issue report includes the application, release, exact steps, expected and observed behavior, newest matching log, affected source files when they can be shared, and a screenshot for visual problems.

Building from source

The build guide describes the source layout and compilation for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Windows x64 with Qt 5.14.2 and MSVC is the current release target. Other platforms must be compiled with compatible Qt and native toolchains.

Credits and special thanks

• Tim Baker for the original WorldEd and TileZed work that remains the upstream foundation of these tools.
• Alree / Unjammer for the unofficial Qt 5 continuation, current maintenance, new features, fixes, integrations, and releases.
• Zero / Z3R0-BYT3Z for the BuildingEd Studio workspace, interface assets, unresolved-tileset save protection, extraction workflow adjustments, and Windows release-verification tools in this distribution.
• The map-style import workflow is documented as existing since at least 2023 with the Google Maps Styling Wizard and custom JSON. It later evolved toward OpenStreetMap in the native tools.
• SadPeanut / Pz-RealLifeMap for the idea of using OpenStreetMap instead of Google.
• A very special thank you to Fred 'Military Surplus' Cooper.
• Petro, Pabbiqo [pq], Dane, ! Cacador, Kyber, shakaloblok, and the Project Zomboid mapping and modding community for reproducible reports, project files, screenshots, logs, and practical workflow feedback.

Legal authorship and third-party attribution are documented in AUTHORS.txt, FEATURE_PROVENANCE.md, UPSTREAM-HISTORY.md, and the bundled license notices.

Licenses and assets

PZWorldEd, TileZed, and BuildingEd retain their upstream copyright notices and are distributed as modified GPL applications. libtiled, tmxviewer, Qt, and other bundled components retain their own licenses.

The release includes COPYING.txt, THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt, SOURCE-OFFER.txt, FEATURE_PROVENANCE.md, UPSTREAM-HISTORY.md, and the complete licenses directory. Corresponding source for this distribution is published at https://github.com/Z3R0-BYT3Z/PZ_Mapping_Tools. The maintained engine source is available from https://github.com/Unjammer/PZ_Mapping_Tools.

Project Zomboid data, Tiles, textures, and other game assets are not part of this repository or release. Users must obtain them from an authorized game installation and follow the game's modding and redistribution rules.