Project Zomboid Build 42.5 Unstable Update

Build 42.5 arrived on the unstable branch in March 2025, bringing wildlife expansion and quality-of-life improvements that later rolled into the stable ecosystem. This guide covers what 42.5 introduced—including raccoons, the extended placement UI, Stendo’s Firearms Emporium, and the new scavenging behaviors that make wildlife feel less like scenery and more like a system survivors must account for.

This page targets players watching the unstable branch or waiting for 42.5 content to land on Stable. If you are on the public Stable line, this page helps you understand what the development pipeline is delivering. Pair it with Build 42 Overview for the Big Glow Up context and Roadmap and Build 43 for what comes next.

What Build 42.5 actually added

The March 2025 unstable release was a focused patch—smaller than the 42.20 stable promotion but meaningful for players tracking the development line. Key additions:

• Raccoons as scavenging wildlife
• Stendo’s Firearms Emporium — new map location behind Twiggy’s Bar in West Point
• Extended placement UI — better object interaction when decorating or fortifying
• New crafting and survival feature touches

Project Zomboid Build 42.5 Wildlife and New Features

Raccoons: the scavenging wildlife that changes base hygiene

Build 42.5 added raccoons as the latest layer in the wildlife ecosystem. Unlike passive animals that graze or wander, raccoons in Project Zomboid are scavengers—they investigate bases, raid poorly secured food stores, and can trigger zombie attention when they knock things over in urban and suburban zones.

What raccoons do:

• Scavenge at night — they wander onto your property when you are asleep or away
• Raid unsecured food — open crates, uncovered storage, and ground-level food piles attract them
• Make noise — knocking over items alerts nearby zombies
• Can be trapped — cage traps and snares work on raccoons using standard bait

Why this matters for survival: Build 42 already made food storage a planning problem. Raccoons add a nocturnal layer—if you leave a drying rack of meat on the front porch, a raccoon may drag it into the street and pull zombies toward your safehouse. Secure food storage and check base perimeter in the morning.

Countermeasures:

• Elevate food storage off ground level
• Use closed crates and containers for dried or preserved food
• Cage traps with bait near exposed storage areas
• Indoor or fenced drying areas instead of open-air racks

Stendo’s Firearms Emporium: a memorial location

Build 42.5 added Stendo’s Firearms Emporium behind Twiggy’s Bar in West Point. This is not just a new loot spot—it is a memorial to Stendo_Clip, the founding author of the Vanilla Firearms Expansion mod. The Indie Stone added the location after conversation with the mod author and community.

What makes this location notable:

• Updated version of the gun store found in other Knox County towns
• Positioned as a tribute to modding community contributors
• Contains firearms and related loot appropriate to the Build 42 weapon ecosystem
• Accessed through standard gun store entry methods (propane torch recommended)

For gun store entry tactics, see Gun Store Entry. For firearms mechanics, see Firearms Guide.

Extended placement UI: better object interaction

Build 42.5 shipped an extended placement UI that improves how players place and arrange objects. This is a quality-of-life improvement that affects:

• Furniture and decoration — easier rotation and alignment when setting up safehouses
• Barricades and fortifications — more precise placement for walls, boards, and barriers
• Farm and base objects — better feedback when positioning animal troughs, compost bins, and similar items
• Vehicle placement — improved interaction when parking or storing vehicles

The placement UI update reduces the frustration of misaligned objects and makes base building more intuitive, especially for players who spend significant time decorating safehouses or building farm infrastructure.

Wildlife ecosystem: where raccoons fit

Raccoons join the existing wildlife roster alongside rabbits, squirrels, birds, and deer. Each animal type has distinct behavior:

Animal	Behavior	Products
Rabbit	Crepuscular, found in forest edges	Meat, pelt
Squirrel	Active during day in trees	Meat, pelt
Bird	Various habitats	Meat, feathers
Deer	Wild, flee from humans	Large meat yield, hide
Raccoon	Nocturnal scavenger, raids bases	Meat, pelt

Raccoons being nocturnal scavengers creates the most direct interaction with player bases. Players who leave food unsecured will find raccoons becoming a nightly problem that compounds into zombie migration events.

For trapping and hunting guidance, see Trapping and Hunting and Tracking.

How this connects to Build 43 NPC work

Build 42.5 wildlife work reinforces what the Roadmap describes: animal AI is the technical foundation for later NPC systems. Raccoons scavenging at night, rabbits following print-based tracking, and deer fleeing into meta-world tiles all rehearse the behavior that human NPCs will eventually use.

If you want to understand NPC simulation fundamentals, study how raccoons and other wildlife interact with base systems in Build 42.5.

Unstable versus stable expectations

Build 42.5 was an unstable branch release in March 2025. Content and balance may have shifted since then. The principles—raccoons as nocturnal scavengers, the extended placement UI, and Stendo’s Firearms Emporium—represent the direction The Indie Stone was developing, even if exact numbers and behaviors have been updated.

For current Stable content, see Build 42 Overview. For the roadmap and NPC timeline, see Roadmap and Build 43.

Recommended reading order

1. Build 42 Overview — Big Glow Up context
2. Roadmap and Build 43 — NPC stage one and support timeline
3. Trapping — raccoon snare and cage trap tactics
4. Hunting and Tracking — wildlife behavior patterns
5. Firearms Guide — gun store entry and weapon maintenance
6. Gun Store Entry — torch methods and tactical approach

Raccoons are a reminder that Knox County is alive even when you sleep. Secure your food, check your traps, and watch the treeline at dusk.