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How to publish a Project Zomboid mod on the Steam Workshop

How to upload your mod to Steam, what to put on the page so people can find it, and how to update it without losing subscribers.

Level beginner · Updated

What the folder needs

text
Zomboid/Workshop/MiMod/
├── workshop.txt     <- title, description, tags, visibility
├── preview.png      <- the Workshop image (square, under 1 MB)
└── Contents/mods/MiMod/42/...

A minimal workshop.txt:

ini
version=1
title=My Mod [B42]
description=What the mod does, in one or two lines.
description=
description=Each description= line is one line of the description.
tags=Build 42;Food
visibility=public

Uploading it

  1. Launch the game and, from the main menu, go to Workshop.
  2. Choose Create and update items. The game lists the folders you have in Zomboid/Workshop/.
  3. Select your mod, check the details and upload it. The first time, Steam may ask you to accept the Workshop subscriber agreement.
  4. After the first upload, the game adds an id= line to your workshop.txt. Don't delete or change it: it's what links the folder to your Steam page.

Updating without losing anything

  • Upload from the same folder, with the same id=. The same page gets updated, and you keep your subscribers, comments and ratings.
  • If you upload with a different id (or none at all), a separate mod gets created.
  • Before uploading an update, check that the folder has everything in it. On one poster mod we almost uploaded a version without the .tiles file, which would have left the posters impossible to hang.
  • Bump modversion= in mod.info and say in the description what changed.

A good mod page

What has worked best for us:

  • Title with the name and what it is, in English if you want everyone to find it: Catimbas - Brand Sneakers, Slides & Crocs [B42]. 128 characters max.
  • First line: what it does, in one sentence. Lots of people don't read any further.
  • A list of what it adds, where to find it in the world, and a compatibility table: Build 42, multiplayer, whether it can be added to an existing save, what it requires, and languages.
  • English plus your other languages on the same page, so non-English speakers aren't left out.
  • The right tags: always Build 42, plus the category (Food, Vehicles, Clothing/Armor, Weapons...).
  • An image that reads at small sizes. The Workshop shows the image tiny: big title and one clear subject.

The description is capped at roughly 8000 characters and uses Steam BBCode: [h2], [b], [list], [table], [url=...].