How to Save and Backup Project Zomboid (Build 42.19)

In Build 42.19, saves live under Zomboid/Saves/<mode>/<world>. Vanilla updates the current world during play and on quit, and it has no separate “Save As” slot.

How saving actually works

There is no in-game “Save As” that stamps a new dated slot. Load Game only lists worlds that already exist under Saves.

Where save files live

User data is under a Zomboid folder in your profile (not inside the Steam game install). Worlds sit at:

<game mode> is a folder such as Sandbox, Survival, Builder, or a multiplayer/host mode name. <save name> is often a timestamped folder created when you started the world (for example 2025-06-20_09-51-58).

Open the folder quickly

• Windows: press Win+R, paste %UserProfile%\Zomboid\Saves, Enter.
• macOS: Finder → Go → Go to Folder… (⇧⌘G), paste ~/Zomboid/Saves. This is under your home directory, not inside ~/Library.
• Linux: file manager path bar or terminal: cd ~/Zomboid/Saves.

Steam Cloud, custom launch options, or a portable install can change the root. If Saves is empty, search your drive for a folder named Zomboid that contains Saves and console.txt.

How to load a world

1. From the main menu, choose Load / Load Game.
2. Pick the world in the list (these entries map to folders under Saves).
3. Continue. You are always loading the live folder for that world—not a separate dated snapshot unless you restored one from backup first.

Create a versioned backup (recommended)

1. Fully quit Project Zomboid (and any dedicated server using those files). Do not copy while the process is running—you can capture a half-written, inconsistent world.
2. Open Zomboid\Saves\<mode>\ and find the world folder you care about. To protect everything, back up the entire Saves directory instead.
3. Copy that folder to a location outside Zomboid (Desktop, external drive, cloud sync folder you control).
4. Name the copy with an explicit stamp, for example pz_backup_20260716_2145_MyWorld.
5. Optionally copy useful extras from the same root: Server configs, mods lists, or workshop-related notes—not required for a single solo world restore.

Windows — PowerShell

Paste into PowerShell after the game has exited. Adjust $mode and $save, or back up all of Saves:

# Fully quit Project Zomboid first.
$stamp = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd_HHmmss"
$src   = Join-Path $env:USERPROFILE "Zomboid\Saves"
$dest  = Join-Path $env:USERPROFILE "Desktop\pz_saves_backup_$stamp"

if (-not (Test-Path $src)) { throw "Saves folder not found: $src" }
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $dest -Force | Out-Null
Copy-Item -Path (Join-Path $src "*") -Destination $dest -Recurse -Force
Write-Host "Backup complete: $dest"
Get-ChildItem $dest | Select-Object Name, Mode, LastWriteTime

Single-world variant:

$stamp = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd_HHmmss"
$mode  = "Sandbox"   # e.g. Sandbox, Survival, Builder
$save  = "2025-06-20_09-51-58"
$src   = Join-Path $env:USERPROFILE "Zomboid\Saves\$mode\$save"
$dest  = Join-Path $env:USERPROFILE "Desktop\pz_${mode}_${save}_$stamp"
Copy-Item -Path $src -Destination $dest -Recurse -Force
Write-Host "Backup complete: $dest"

Windows — downloadable .bat helper

Download zomboid_save_backup.bat, double-click after quitting the game, and confirm. It stamps the folder with yyyyMMdd_HHmmss (not region-dependent date text), copies %UserProfile%\Zomboid\Saves to the Desktop as pz_saves_backup_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss, and reports success or failure.

macOS / Linux — Terminal

# Fully quit Project Zomboid first.
stamp=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
src="$HOME/Zomboid/Saves"
dest="$HOME/Desktop/pz_saves_backup_$stamp"

if [ ! -d "$src" ]; then
  echo "Saves folder not found: $src" >&2
  exit 1
fi
mkdir -p "$dest"
cp -a "$src"/. "$dest"/
echo "Backup complete: $dest"
ls -la "$dest"

Single world:

stamp=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
mode="Sandbox"
save="2025-06-20_09-51-58"
src="$HOME/Zomboid/Saves/$mode/$save"
dest="$HOME/Desktop/pz_${mode}_${save}_$stamp"
cp -a "$src" "$dest"
echo "Backup complete: $dest"

Restore a backup

1. Quit Project Zomboid completely (and stop any server using the world).
2. Rename or move the current live folder aside (for example add _broken_before_restore). Do not delete it until you confirm the restore works.
3. Copy the backup folder back to the original path under Zomboid/Saves/<mode>/<save name>. The parent <mode> folder name must match what you used before if you want Load Game to list it the same way.
4. Start the game and use Load Game to open that world.
5. If something is wrong, quit again and swap folders back using the safety copy from step 2.

Multiplayer notes

• Host / listen server: worlds still live under the host machine’s Zomboid/Saves. Back up on the host after a clean shutdown.
• Dedicated server: save and config paths follow the server install and custom cache directory settings. Stop the service before copying; back up both the world/save data and server config files if you need a full rollback.
• Remote clients: sleeping or quitting on a client does not create a private local rollback of the shared world. Ask the host/admin for server-side backups.

FAQ

Checklist

• Quit fully before any copy.
• Back up Zomboid/Saves/… (or the whole Saves tree) to a path outside Zomboid.
• Use a timestamp in the backup name.
• On restore, keep the broken live folder until the restored world loads cleanly.
• Do not rely on Quit or sleep as versioned backups.