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.

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.

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

Included applications

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
• 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
• Project Doctor for paths, missing tilesets, and project cleanup
• Build 42.20 Biomemap reference and separate red and green painting modes
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Vertical building-lot placement with selected underground outlines and a confirmed ground-opening action for basement stairs

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 and cut immediately switch tile selections to a translucent, pointer-following preview. One click places every selected layer and level.
• 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
• Depth Map primitive editing with pixel dimensions and reusable presets
• TileDef comparison and Snow, Burnt, and custom replacement editing
• 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.

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:

• 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. 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.
• Pasting beyond an edge expands the building while preserving and shifting existing rooms, user tiles, square properties, objects, and basement access. 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

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, and procedural-loot definitions. It does not replace the extracted mapping Tiles directory required by the renderers.

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. Right-click a selected Basement object and choose Choose Basement Access... to browse the available access names with a visual preview.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. With Show Invisible Tiles enabled, transparent and explicitly invisible tiles use 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.

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.
• 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 is published at 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.