NPC Mods Your Lonely Apocalypse Deserves
No More Lone Survivors: Best Free NPC Mods for Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid's apocalypse can feel lonely – but fear not, fellow survivor! The community has cooked up free NPC mods that finally add other humans (friend or foe) to your game. Yes, you can have companions, rival bandits, and even pre-outbreak story events in Build 41 and 42. Below we break down the top free mods (no Patreon paywalls!) that bring life to Kentucky's wasteland, how to install them, and how to avoid potential conflicts. If you're having mod-related server issues, check our server troubleshooting guide.
TL;DR: The best free NPC mods for Project Zomboid are Superb Survivors (solo survivor companions for Build 41), Bandits (v2) plus Bandits Creator (highly customizable NPC bandits for Build 42, with a B41 backport), Day One and Week One scenario mods (intense pre-apocalypse story events with NPCs), and the ambitious Knox Event Expanded mod (faction-based NPCs in Build 42). Each mod is compatible with specific game versions – always start a new save with these mods, and tweak settings (e.g. spawn rates, NPC needs) to keep your game stable.
Quick-Start NPC Mod Roundup
Pro Tip:
Always read each mod's description for required libraries or specific instructions! For example, the Day One and Week One mods rely on the base Bandits NPC mod to run. Don't worry – we'll cover these details below.
Lonely Apocalypse Blues – Craving Companion NPCs
You've fortified your safehouse, canned a year's worth of peaches, and taken out hundreds of zombies... yet something is missing. Survivor NPCs! After all, every zombie movie has that ragtag group of human companions – for better or worse.
The Long Wait for Company
First, let's set expectations: vanilla PZ has no human NPCs. The developers at Indie Stone deliberately held off until their animation overhaul (Build 41) was done, and even now in Build 42 unstable, NPCs are not yet implemented. They've outlined that NPCs are a huge feature coming in future builds (targeting Build 43).
What does that mean for you today? It means if you want a friendly face (or even a hostile one that isn't undead), mods are your only option.
When a Buddy Becomes Bait
So you found a fellow survivor – great! But are they a help or a hindrance? NPC companions can be both. On one hand, nothing beats having an extra set of hands to haul loot or an extra shotgun watching your six. Veteran players share how they'd send mod NPCs out to gather wood or food while they fortify the base.
On the other hand, NPC survivors can be like untrained puppies with firearms. There are tales of companions accidentally attracting hordes or even betraying the player. Ever seen The Walking Dead? Remember Shane pushing Rick aside to escape? Yup, that can happen. A Reddit user described his first time using a survivor mod: "I recruited a guy, and he ended up pushing me into the first horde we encountered. I then disabled the mod and haven't used it again."
Superb Survivors (Build 41, Singleplayer)
Superb Survivors! (often abbreviated SS) is the granddaddy of NPC mods for Zomboid. It's been around in some form since the old builds, and for a long time it was the only way to get NPC allies.
Right-click on an NPC to interact (recruit, trade, check their health). They have names and a few stats/traits. Once in your group, they'll follow you and respond to basic orders via a menu or keybinds. They can be assigned tasks like patrolling or staying put as a guard.
Works on Build 41 (stable). As of now, Superb Survivors does NOT work on Build 42 – the code changes in 42 broke it, and it hasn't been updated for that.
This mod is singleplayer only (no multiplayer support, and according to the modder, never will be). If you try to use it in MP, you're gonna have a bad time – it wasn't designed for that and will likely break.
- The original Superb Survivors! by Nolan Ritchie (no longer maintained)
- Superb Survivors Continued by "Cows With Guns" (who took over in 2023 to fix some issues)
- "2024 BETA" offshoot of Continued that attempted to rewrite chunks for better performance
Recommended Superb Survivors Settings (for stability):
- NPC Spawn Rate: Ultra Low (fewer NPCs overall to reduce CPU load)
- Maximum NPCs: 10 or less (cap the number that can exist)
- Spawn Hostile NPCs: OFF (no raiders, to avoid fight chaos and potential immortals)
- Raider Events: OFF (these triggered base attacks; cool idea but buggy)
- NPCs Need Food/Water: OFF (prevents survivors from wandering/freaking out due to hunger)
- NPCs Use Guns: Rarely or set Gun spawn chance to 0% initially (NPCs with guns can cause massive zombie attract and friendly fire)
- Idle Chatter: ON (counterintuitive, but turning off chatter caused errors in some versions)
- Show NPCs on Map: OFF (this feature was known to cause huge logs/errors in older versions when toggled)
Using Your New Friends:
Once you have survivors in-game, try to recruit them (if they're neutral/friendly). Some may say no or require you to gain trust. If they join, they'll follow you automatically. You can access a survivor menu (press T by default) to issue commands. For example, you can tell an NPC to guard an area – useful if you want someone to hold a position and keep it clear of zombies. For character building tips that work well with companions, check our best occupations and traits guide.
Expect some derpy behavior: companions might not navigate stairs or buildings well (pathfinding is hard), and sometimes they stand too close, swinging wildly and hitting you in friendly fire (PvP mode can be turned off for survivors to prevent damage to you).
Important: Don't mix Superb Survivors with other NPC mods. If you have Bandits or others also enabled, they will likely conflict. Also, do not run the original and Continued versions together (the Continued workshop page explicitly warns not to enable both).
"We Are Not Alone!" – Facing Human Enemies
Sometimes, you don't want friends – you want targets. Sure, zombies are the main dish in Zomboid, but after year one of surviving, the undead become predictable. You've got your base defenses, you know how to sneak and stab. What about a living, breathing bandit who can shoot back or steal your loot? Now that's a challenge.
Humans vs. Zombies – The Ultimate Threat
One thing zombie fiction teaches us: the living can be more dangerous than the dead. In a world where society has collapsed, not every survivor is a friendly Rick Grimes – some are more like Negan with a barbed-wire bat, looking to take what's yours.
Think about it: you're raiding a gun store, complacent after clearing the zombies outside, and BAM! – a shotgun blast rings out from behind the counter. Another survivor was lying in wait, and they're not interested in sharing. Adrenaline spike ensues!
As PCGamesN joked, adding human NPCs means "fighting off the undead alone wasn't bad enough" – now you've got humans messing up your plans too.
Bandit Raids and Faction Ambushes
Picture this actual scenario reported by a player: They were fortifying the second floor of their base when they heard gunshots nearby. Through a window, they saw a group of three NPC bandits pinning down another survivor behind a car. The player decided to intervene – lining up a rifle shot on the bandit leader. One trigger pull, and chaos erupted: bandits returned fire at the player's window, zombies (attracted by all the noise) flooded the street, and the hapless survivor who was caught in the middle made a break for it towards the player's base.
Not every encounter is that dramatic, but even a simple one – like you and a buddy in co-op hearing a voice, realizing it's an NPC raider shouting at you to drop your gear – can send shivers down your spine in a game that traditionally never had such moments.
Bandits (v2) – Modular NPC Enemies for B42 (and B41)
Bandits NPC (v2) is a fresh take on NPCs by modder Slayer. It was released for Build 42 (alpha) in late 2024 and has quickly become the go-to for anyone wanting dynamic NPC enemies.
Once enabled, the mod will spawn NPCs in the game world at intervals. These NPCs are usually bandit groups. They can spawn with firearms, melee weapons, and basic survivor gear. They have a faction system – typically they're hostile to the player (and maybe to other factions).
Unlike older mods, Bandits works in multiplayer. This is huge. It means you and your friends can co-op against NPC adversaries. The mod was tested extensively to support this.
The Bandits mod is built on a newer codebase than Superb Survivors. Users generally report it's more performance-friendly and less error-prone. One YouTuber's review explicitly noted "Unlike Zomboid's Superb Survivors mod, this mod does not lag or create stuttering or heavy errors."
+ Bandits Creator Extension
If you subscribe to Bandits Creator mod (by the same author), you gain a powerful tool to customize NPC spawns. This is essentially a GUI that lets you fully customize bandit NPCs and their clans.
You can decide their looks (clothes, gender, etc.), their loadout (which guns or melee they carry), and even assign them certain AI presets or "traits". For example, one preset makes an NPC an electrician – meaning they might try to sabotage your generator if they sneak into your base.
Want a roaming sniper rival who hunts you across the map? You can make one. Want a goofy clan of baseball bat wielding raiders in clown outfits? You can do that too.
Compatibility:
The current Bandits mod is labeled for B42. The good news is, the author did promise a backport to B41, and as of May 2025, it's available. In fact, the single workshop item works for both B42 and B41 now. If you run it on B41, it uses a "legacy" mode behind the scenes (the older NPC engine) so it might not have every feature or fix that B42 version has.
Gameplay With Bandits:
- Use cover and stealth. These NPCs have line of sight vision and decent hearing.
- They usually announce themselves – some mods have them shout taunts or orders like "Drop your weapon!"
- If you're caught out, zig-zag and break line of sight. They have limited ammo usually.
- Zombies are your frenemies here: you can kite zombies toward bandits and let the chaos even the odds.
Knox Event Expanded – Living World & Factions (Build 42, Alpha)
If Bandits mod is a tailored experience, Knox Event Expanded (NPC) is more of a grand experiment. Modder Snejk set out to recreate what the devs have teased in their dev blogs: a world where NPCs exist from the very beginning and gradually form groups, factions, settlements, etc., as time goes on.
Currently, Knox Event Expanded (KEE for short) spawns neutral survivor NPCs, who are often not hostile unless you make them be. You can actually approach some and recruit or befriend them. It also spawns bandit NPCs who are hostile. Over time (in game weeks), the idea is survivors band together, maybe turning into organized factions (like a "survivor group" vs a "bandit gang").
This mod is in alpha (version 0.2.x), meaning it's early in development. Expect quirks: for example, currently the NPC movement is waypoint-based and doesn't account for custom map mods, so if you added, say, a map expansion, NPCs might ignore it or bug out there.
This mod is a bit unique in that it requires replacing some game files with modified versions (to extend the engine). The workshop download should include a guide – typically, you'll need to copy a couple of .class files into your Project Zomboid installation directory. Follow the installation guide to the letter.
Important: Because of the engine modifications, whenever PZ updates to a new version, double-check if the mod has an update too. Incompatibility can cause crashes or NPC AI failing.
Story Mode Sandbox – NPCs for Immersion & Chaos
Project Zomboid is a sandbox – you set your own goals. But sometimes you want a little plot in your apocalypse. Maybe experience the outbreak unfolding, or have quests/missions. While full story missions aren't here yet, mods can create scenarios where NPCs play roles in scripted (or semi-scripted) events.
Turning Zomboid into a Zombie Movie
Let's face it – after you've survived a few months in Zomboid, everyday survival can get routine. Story/Scenario mods help by giving you a premise and evolving events to react to, kind of like being the protagonist in your own zombie film.
The Day One and Week One mods effectively turn the game's start into set-piece events: you see how society collapsed. This scratches an itch many have: What was it like when the infection hit?
PCGamesN even said about Week One, "Of course, Week One isn't technically canon, but we're happy to accept it as such if you are." – that's how convincing and detailed it is.
From Zero to Outbreak in Days
Both Day One and Week One mods start you off in a mostly normal world, but events escalate rapidly:
In Week One scenario, Day -7 (a week before infection) everything is normal. People go to work, you hear generic news on TV about some sickness but nothing wild. Each day, things get a bit worse. By Day 0 (the day infection goes widespread), all hell breaks loose – NPCs are looting, fighting, running, and zombies start appearing en masse.
A Reddit user summarized Week One perfectly: "It goes from 'Hi neighbor!' to 'The Purge' within about 5 days, and then finally either zombies or nukes..."
Day One – 24 Hours of Chaos
Day One is focused on just the initial outbreak day – think of it as the prologue of every zombie movie, where people are going nuts, and the government is scrambling.
When you start a new game with Day One mod, you typically choose a city (Muldraugh, West Point, etc.) as usual, but it's Day 0 of the apocalypse. The first few in-game hours, things look normal: no zombies at 9 AM, NPC people walking around, going to work, driving (if enabled).
- The infection starts – you might hear emergency broadcast on radio/TV alerting of some situation.
- NPC dialogues and behaviors change – e.g., by afternoon, you'll see some NPCs panicking, running, maybe some already turning.
- Violence intensifies – people start fighting for their lives. You'll likely witness NPC-on-NPC combat.
- The government's "extreme measures to contain the virus" - roadblocks, possibly air drops or bombings by evening.
The mod page warns it's "brutal and fairly hard". They're not kidding. Surviving the full 24 hours is a real accomplishment. You start with chaos and can't really do the normal "preparation phase" you have in sandbox.
Day One requires the Bandits mod (v2) as its engine. On B41, also enable Bandits Legacy.
Survival Tips for Day One:
- Stay mobile. Don't try to set up a base on Day 1 – it's pointless when everything is about to explode.
- Use the confusion. NPCs will be fighting each other and zombies – use that distraction to slip past dangerous areas.
- Scavenge early: While stores are unlooted in the morning, grab supplies. By evening, it will be too dangerous to go out.
- Find a safe spot for the night: The mod's climax often happens at night (when the army "cleanses" cities). Being outdoors or near obvious targets might get you killed.
Week One – A Calm Before the Storm
If Day One is an action-horror movie, Week One is a slow-burn TV series that erupts into chaos by the finale. This mod is epic in scope: a full week of pre-apocalypse life with increasing events each day, leading into the Knox Event outbreak.
Week One is officially for Build 42 (B41 users had a version, but it's not actively developed on B41 and misses many features). It's single-player only.
- NPCs are everywhere living their lives. You'll see mail carriers, cops on patrol, hikers, people at gas stations doing everyday tasks.
- You have a job! As part of immersion, you might start with a job to go to or tasks.
- As days progress, scripted happenings occur. E.g., mid-week, maybe power outages in parts of town.
- NPC behavior shifts accordingly: early on they're friendly and talkative. There's a chat system.
At some point near the end of the week, the first zombies appear. The mod does this gradually – perhaps an NPC "gets sick" and collapses, later reanimating. Then all heck breaks loose. The final day (Day 0) tends to be pure mayhem akin to the Day One mod.
Complexity and Bugs:
Week One is, frankly, a technical marvel and a hot mess, in the best way. The modder even jokes that "Project Zomboid simply isn't built to simulate regular, non-apocalyptic life…" This means you will absolutely see odd behavior:
- The infamous bathroom gatherings – NPCs might all decide to use a water source at the same time, leading to 5 people in one bathroom.
- Sometimes NPC schedules get funky – e.g. a shop owner NPC might leave their store unstaffed because something triggered them to go somewhere else.
- Stealth is almost impossible because NPCs always know where you are.
- There are random events and icons on your map guiding you to them.
Hardware Note: This mod is heavy. All those NPCs pathfinding and schedules – expect a performance hit, especially toward the end of the week with zombies + NPCs + fires, etc. The author recommends turning down NPC and zombie counts in Sandbox settings for Week One to avoid a slideshow.
Playing Week One effectively:
- Treat it somewhat like an RPG or adventure game for the first 6 days. Do quests or follow leads if any. Explore and enjoy the ambience.
- Be observant. The mod drops clues (e.g., a newspaper or radio might hint at where the first infection case is, or which day things will turn).
- Plan an escape or safehouse for the final days. If you keep living in, say, downtown West Point, it'll be ground zero of chaos.
- During the collapse, don't play hero unless you want to risk it all. You might feel attached to NPC buddies or townsfolk, but often there's not much you can do to save them from the scripted apocalypse.
They Knew (Coming Soon – NPC Trading Tease)
Before we move on, it's worth mentioning They Knew – a mod that already exists to add a virus cure and new medicines to Zomboid, but the interesting part is the dev's roadmap. They have promised an "expanded universe" with "a unique NPC trading system" and possibly new enemy types.
As of mid-2025, the mod's first part (the cure items) is out, but the NPC trader system isn't yet implemented. However, keep an eye on it. It could become another avenue for NPC interaction – imagine finding a hermit NPC who sells you the cure or rare items in exchange for supplies, giving a sort of quest/goal beyond survival.
It's free and on Workshop, so you can try the available features. This is just a heads-up that NPC mods are not only about combat or companions; trading and neutral NPCs might soon be a thing too.
Surviving the Mods – Installation & Compatibility
So you've picked your poison (or several) – maybe Superb Survivors for B41, or Bandits + Week One for B42. Installing mods in Zomboid is usually straightforward, but NPC mods are not your average "add new gun" mods. They tie into the game's AI and event systems deeply. This means two things: 1) They might require special install steps, and 2) They can conflict with each other or other mods more often.
Install Like a Pro (Avoiding Save Wipes)
General Mod Installation:
Start a Fresh Save: This is the golden rule. Don't add a heavy NPC mod to an existing long-term save expecting it to work seamlessly. The world wasn't generated with them in mind; you might get weird behavior or nothing at all.
Check Load Order/Requirements: Make sure prerequisite mods are enabled above the dependent mod. For example, if using Day One, the Bandits mod should appear above it in the mod list.
Manual Steps (if any): As mentioned, Knox Event Expanded needs copying files. Follow the mod's "Installation guide" link.
Back Up Your Save: Before enabling an NPC mod, consider backing up your Zomboid saves folder or at least the specific world file. If something goes wrong (e.g., mod conflict corrupts save), you have a fallback.
Don't run multiple NPC frameworks at once: It's tempting to say, "I'll run Superb Survivors and Bandits and Knox and have a world filled with people!" But you're really asking for trouble. These mods weren't designed to cooperate. Best case, they just spawn their own NPCs separately (and your PC melts handling AI for 3 mods). Worst case, they interfere with each other.
Taming the Chaos – Performance and Conflicts
After you've got the mod running, you might notice:
- Frame drops or stutters: Not surprising when dozens of NPCs are active. If it's too laggy, consider reducing Zombie Population in sandbox (fewer zeds + NPCs is easier than max zeds + NPCs). Also use the mod's own settings as we described.
- UI clutter or minor annoyances: Some mods might add UI elements. E.g., Week One shows icons on screen pointing to events – if you find that immersion-breaking or annoying, you can disable them by double-clicking.
- Weird NPC behaviors: If NPCs are doing something game-breaking (say, a survivor is unkillable due to a bug), you have a few options:
- Try to reload the game. Save and quit, then continue. Sometimes their AI resets.
- Check mod updates/patch notes. Perhaps it's a known bug fixed in a newer version.
- Mod conflicts: We touched on not mixing multiple NPC mods. But also be careful with any mod that affects zombies or the AI in general. For example:
- Expanded Helicopter Event (EHE) was known to conflict with Superb Survivors original.
- Dynamic Dialog/Monologue mods: these let your character or NPCs say more flavorful things. Nice idea, but they often weren't built to handle dozens of NPCs.
- Map Mods: as noted, Knox Event NPC mod doesn't play well with custom maps yet because NPCs don't know how to navigate them.
Recommended Settings Recap for Stability:
- Keep NPC counts low (or at default). It's tempting to max spawns for "living world", but your CPU will cry.
- Turn off NPC needs and complex behaviors until you confirm stability.
- Limit NPC use of firearms, or at least the frequency. This prevents one NPC fight from dragging the whole cell's zombie population into a lag-fest.
- Safe Mode Start: For scenario mods, consider disabling other heavy mods on first run to ensure you get through the initial events without additional strain.
- Keep Mods Updated: Always check if there's a new version of the mod when a PZ patch drops.
Avoiding Common Bugs
If you unload a shotgun into a raider and they don't die, you likely hit a bug. For SS raiders, this was a known bug at times (raiders spawning invincible). Try melee or let zombies handle them (zeds might still kill them). If truly invincible, remove them via debug or avoid them, and report the bug to mod author.
In SS, to get a follower to chill, use the right-click context menu "Stay here" or tell them to guard area. Sometimes they'd still follow, so one trick: build a makeshift pen or room and order them in, then close the door. (It's come to that, yes – making NPC playpens.)
They can and will do that. NPCs in mods don't understand your base's defenses. If you have a safehouse, consider using double doors or obstacles NPCs can't easily path through. In SS, you can mark a base as "Safe Base" which might stop them from leaving doors open.
Driving NPCs are experimental. Week One and Day One allow it, but if it crashes your game frequently when an NPC car appears, disable NPC driving in that mod's settings if possible. Alternatively, reduce traffic settings.
Quality-of-Life Checklist:
- ✓ Title Screen sanity: After enabling the mods, did the game start without errors?
- ✓ Mod Options configured: Set those spawn rates, etc., before starting the game via the Mods > ModOptions menu.
- ✓ One mod at a time: Initially load up only the NPC mod(s) you need. Add others later when you're sure things run smooth.
- ✓ Backup done: Copied your save or are starting fresh – either way, nothing to lose if it goes south.
- ✓ Read the mod's FAQ: If something weird pops up, likely someone asked about it.
- ✓ Have fun: Yes, even troubleshooting can be part of the fun. You're basically in uncharted territory with these emergent mods.
Patch History
FAQ (NPC Mods Edition)
- Use the Admin/Debug mode: In singleplayer, you can enable Debug in the launch options, then right-click the NPC and there may be options to delete or kill them.
- If it's a companion you care about, you could try nudging them with physics (bump with car, etc.) to dislodge them – careful not to kill them.
- Check the mod's FAQ/discussions – maybe it's a known bug with a workaround.
- As a last resort, you might have to remove that NPC by force or avoid that area. The mods aren't perfect – sometimes a bugged NPC can't be saved.
Happy surviving (with friends or foes)! 🧟♂️🤝🎮
Now, survivor, you should be fully equipped to venture into the world of NPCs in Project Zomboid. Whether you're leading a squad of Superb Survivors in West Point or dodging bandit bullets on the streets of Louisville, remember: This is how you (hopefully don't) died.