[B42.18+42.19] Knox Survivors
Knox Survivors is basically my take on adding a proper survivor / companion / faction system to Project Zomboid without turning it into a goofy free-army cheat mod.
This started as a personal-use mod for my own saves. I wanted Knox County to feel less empty, but I didn’t want survivors that felt like superheroes, aimbot guards, or random NPCs dumped everywhere with no purpose. I wanted something that felt more grounded — rare survivors, small camps, people trying to scrape by, groups forming over time, and companions that can help you without completely carrying the game for you.
The goal is to make the world feel more alive while still keeping the vanilla Project Zomboid atmosphere intact.
Knox Survivors is still early in development. The foundation is there, but the full gameplay loop is still being built. Survivors can exist as persistent profiles, be tracked through the world simulation, form camps, gather supplies, grow small groups, trade with other groups, and slowly develop into survivor factions depending on your save and settings.
Some survivors can be recruited, brought with you, used as guards, or managed through the current companion/base systems. The mod is being built carefully in passes, with the main focus right now being stability, performance, survivor identity, base management, and making sure the systems feel believable instead of overpowered.
I’m trying to keep the balance slower and more survival-friendly. You should not load in and instantly have a giant NPC army. Survivors are meant to feel rare, useful, risky, and worth protecting.
Current Version:
0.9.30-alpha-public-test-bugfix-and-release-hardening
This update is mostly a public alpha cleanup, bugfix, and release-hardening pass for Build 42.18–42.19. Recent work has focused on making the survivor systems safer to test: better save/load restore handling, quieter debug logging, improved survivor identity/status reports, camp job reports, world event reports, public alpha test guidance, and cleanup for a camp-job startup warning found during testing.
Current Features:
* Persistent survivor profile system
* Recruitable survivor-style NPCs
* Basic companion behavior
* Follow / guard-style survivor control
* Survivor identity tags so NPCs are easier to recognize
* Base zone and camp-focused gameplay
* Home Base setup and management
* Bulk supply deposit support
* Armory issuing for survivor equipment
* Scout-style job support
* Quartermaster-style job support
* Auto Assign Sensible Jobs
* Camp Job Board
* Camp Job Pulse
* Camp Job Outcome Report
* Camp Life Report
* World Event Report
* Faction / Camp report systems
* Base upkeep and resource handling
* AI camp growth over time
* AI faction trade and merging logic
* Dormant actor cleanup for performance
* Restore / Shell Audit testing tools
* Public alpha checklist and bug report block
* Safer NPC behavior around players
* Sandbox-friendly systems designed for slower roleplay survival
The long-term vision is a full Knox County survivor ecosystem. Not just followers, but camps, factions, recruiting, defending, scavenging, base zones, supplies, alliances, rival groups, and survivors who feel like they are part of the same apocalypse as the player.
Maybe you find one survivor and slowly build a safehouse together. Maybe a nearby camp starts growing and becomes useful. Maybe a faction trades with another group. Maybe you recruit someone, give them a job, and realize keeping another person alive in Knox County is not as easy as it sounds.
That’s the vibe.
Important Alpha Notes:
* This mod is early alpha.
* Test on a fresh or disposable save first.
* Build 42 is still unstable, so bugs are expected.
* The current public build is still more of a systems alpha than a complete gameplay overhaul.
* Current active survivor AI is mainly intended for single-player testing.
* Multiplayer can load the mod in safer compatibility mode, but full live multiplayer NPC AI is not finished yet.
* Do not expect a complete Superb Survivors replacement yet.
* Avoid running this with Bandits/Bandits2 unless you are specifically testing compatibility.
* Survivors still use zombie-backed shells internally, so true player-style animations/climbing are not fully implemented yet.
* Physical camp objects, deeper faction diplomacy, and full MP NPC authority are later development passes.
Default balance is intentionally slow. If you do not instantly find survivors everywhere, the mod is probably working as intended. The idea is not to flood the map with NPCs. The idea is to make survivors feel like rare, believable people trying to survive the same world you are.
This mod is meant for people who like slower, messier, more roleplay-friendly survival. It is not meant to remove the loneliness or danger from Project Zomboid completely — just to make the world feel like maybe, somewhere out there, someone else is still trying to make it too.
Build:
Made for Build 42.18–42.19
Mod ID:
KnoxSurvivors
Workshop ID:
3749727604
My other projects:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3747951740
Optional Support:
Knox Survivors is free and will stay free.
I’m currently putting a lot of time into building, testing, fixing, and expanding this mod. If you want to help support development, I have optional $1 and $5 Patreon tiers.
No gameplay content is locked behind Patreon. No donor-only items. No paid features.
Support just helps me keep working on the mod, cover development costs, test updates, and keep the project moving.
