Framerate drops in b42.13.1 | Project Zomboid | Page 1

white surge Jan 31, 2026, 9:30 PM

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Alright, so I didn't used to have this issue back in b41. Used to run the game butter smooth with all the settings at the highest. Now that I've come back to play in b42.13.1, it drops framerate every few minutes.

I tried to look into it, and got led to the post here: https://discord.com/channels/136501320340209664/1448782368491045025

I updated my Java - it was version 8 - up to version 25, and downloaded the .jar file provided in the link - I wasn't aware that the jar file had already been pushed out in a hotfix. But my game crashed after the .jar file got added in. Assuming because the file messed up the code for the game somewhere?

Currently verifying the integrity of the game files; but I'm hoping to get some help for these fps drops.

System specs:
CPU: Intel 15-14400f
RAM: 16GB
Storage: SSD
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050

I'm even running this game at 1080p as well. So I really for the life of me cannot figure out what the issue is here.

placid bramble Feb 1, 2026, 5:40 PM

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Just to get a clean slate without any modifications, Can you try doing a full reinstall?
First, uninstall the game, then go to "Steam\steamapps\common\ProjectZomboid" and make sure there are no leftover files or folders there.
After that, go to “%UserProfile%\Zomboid” and delete everything there except the “Saves” folder.
Then just install the game again and see if that helps.

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If it does not, can you share a recording of the issue? Make sure to turn on the in game FPS meter with the "K" button

white surge Feb 2, 2026, 5:07 AM

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Just saw this! I'll try this now.

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Okay so, after I uninstalled the game, I went to steamapps\common\ProjectZomboid and I did notice that there's two folders there leftover; "media" and "zombie."

white surge Feb 2, 2026, 7:36 AM

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I just tried to run it. It does seem to have improved, it looks like it's because it lowered the texture sizes down to the default - and previously I was on the highest texture size. But that hasn't changed when I was running smooth on b41, shouldn't my rig be able to run the highest textures on zomboid?

placid bramble Feb 2, 2026, 11:47 AM

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In that case, since now we have a clean slate to check for errors, can you share your logs.zip file found in %UserProfile%\Zomboid?

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And additionally, can you share all “hs_err_pid” files found in your main game folder “Steam\steamapps\common\ProjectZomboid”?

white surge Feb 3, 2026, 1:35 AM

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Logs.zip file:

📎 logs.zip

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I don't see any hs_err_pid files in my root folder.

placid bramble Feb 3, 2026, 10:59 AM

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white surge Logs.zip file:

There seem to be several of these errors:

Realistic Car Physics mod Java side installed but mod not enabled.

The rest of the logs seems fine. Can you uninstall this specific mod, or preferably all mods and then retry?

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If it still happens, can you share a recording of the problem as mentioned?

white surge Feb 3, 2026, 3:17 PM

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I will absolutely do that.

I do notice a big difference though; before you had replied I went through every single one of the mods I had installed, thinking it had to be a conflict or outdated mod or something; come to find out there's a very popular mod that hadn't been updated in a while that was causing pretty frequent hitching issues. I don't know for sure if the mod in question is for sure the cause, but since I uninstalled it and verified that all the ones I still have installed are indeed compatible and don't conflict, I haven't really noticed many issues other than screwing myself in my frequented save by stupidly raising the zombie population multiplier to 2.0 and the peak multiplier to 3.5 (brandenburg's downtown area looks like something out of Dead Rising and it is terrifying lmao).

Speaking of, is there a way to decrease the amount of zombies in populated cells without restarting your world? Zombies are weak but there's just SO MANY that it's pretty unrealistic for me to try to clear it all out lol

placid bramble Feb 3, 2026, 3:26 PM

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Best I could suggest is using Debug mode or using a Sandbox Edit mod to edit the zombie pop settings

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Though it will take a while for the new settings to apply

white surge Feb 6, 2026, 12:46 AM

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I have a sandbox options mod, and already changed the settings; there's no way to force like a respawn or something so the zombies refresh? And how long does it usually take?

placid bramble Feb 6, 2026, 10:26 AM

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You could try deleting all zombies by deleting the "zpop" files, that would be sort of a way to force it

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They are in your save folder in User/Zomboid/Saves

white surge Feb 6, 2026, 11:59 PM

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So upon loading in to the game it'd respawn a whole new batch based off my current settings?

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NOPE THAT BACKFIRED MASSIVELY LOL

It auto defaulted all the settings to apocalypse upon loading in. I think it's probably better to just start a new file, sadly.

placid bramble Feb 7, 2026, 11:28 AM

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That should not be the case, did you perhaps delete any other files than the zpop files?

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Since the settings are saved in the map_sand.bin file

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If that one was deleted, it would default to apo settings

white surge Feb 9, 2026, 5:25 AM

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No, I just deleted the files in the zpop folder.

placid bramble Feb 9, 2026, 11:05 AM

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Hm, I am unfortunately unable to reproduce that, the settings seem to work fine once I remove the zpop folder

#Framerate drops in b42.13.1