One of the most important items that you can acquire during your time playing Project Zomboid would have to be the generator. All that electricity is not going to last forever in your world! In the base difficulty level of the game the electricity can shut off randomly after playing for 14 in-game days. A specific date can be set in the sandbox settings of your world.
After the electricity falls you are going to need to get your hands on a generator if you wish to continue using electrical items. This can include TV’s fridges and washing machines. If you plan on having your character survive for a long period of time and thrive you are going to want to use a generator.
This guide will show you where you can find a generator, how to use one and give some general gameplay tips and knowledge on them as well. You can use the list below to jump straight to the relevant section of the page you are looking for.
Contents:
- Where to Find a Generator:
- Using the Generator in Project Zomboid:
- Spawning a Generator Using Cheats
Project Zomboid Generator Locations
Your first steps on using a generator is going to be finding one. This is going to be where the generator journey ends for most as generator spawns are pretty rare in the game. That being said, there are some specific places that you are going to want to look for generators in the game.
The general locations that you should try to look for generator spawns in Project Zomboid are:
- Inside Warehouses
- Garages and sheds of residential buildings
- Self storage units found across the map
In fact, these are the only locations in Build 41 where generators can actually spawn. They will never spawn randomly in residential houses or in buildings like schools. If your crew is looking for a generator for your base don’t waste your time looking through random buildings.
Generator Spawn Locations Across the Map
Due to the fact that they spawn in these types of locations, there are a few locations that provide the very best place to go and look for generators. Even thought these locations will be pretty spread out across the map, it will be worth it to go and look if you have access to a vehicle. I will split these locations up according to the town they are in.
West Point Generator Locations:
The best locations to find a generator in West Point would definitely be the Storage Units. As there is a chance for generators to spawn in each one, it’s a numbers game. If you have already found yourself a sledgehammer, great! Chances are you will get one as you break through into each unit.
More great news if you’re looking for generators in West Point: There is a large warehouse right next to the storage units. Check out this warehouse if you didn’t manage to find one in the units, or if you don’t have a sledgehammer yet.
Muldraugh Generator Locations
In Muldraugh you have a few locations where you can hunt for generators. In general there are a pretty good range of places to find generators if you are in Muldraugh. The best place to look in Muldraugh would have to be the warehouses that are just out of town to the south. You can see them in the left of the image below.
All of the locations where you can hope to find generators are above in this picture. At the north of Muldraugh you can see a large warehouse building as well. This locations is home to a lot of player bases due to the unique features such as a roof and second level. You will probably find good loot here too.
Other than warehouses you can also find two storage facilities in the town.
Riverside Generator Locations
Stuck in Riverside and looking for a generator? Although there isn’t really too much here in the way of generator spawns, you may have a little luck in a special part just outside of town. If you travel south west from Riverside you will come to a small industrial area.
Here you will find a factory with it’s own warehouse. A little to the south of this factory there is yet another self-storage lot. It seems that storage units are going to be your best friend on this generator hunt as I’ve found most of mine this way. You can see in the video above, there was one just sitting among the furniture in a storage shed.
If you find yourself actually in Riverside looking for a generator, your best bet will probably be sheds beside residential houses.
Louisville Generator Locations
Being the largest city in the whole map, you can basically play the entire game of Project Zomboid in Louisville and never have to leave. The best part about looking for a generator is that there is a large section of Louisville with around 5 different warehouses. Just when you drive into the main area of Louisville you will find these beauties.
These are the two main places you should be searching for a generator in Louisville. In the top left you can see a large area in the North-west part of town. There are many different warehouses here and also a storage unit where the red dot (my current location) is.
How to Use a Generator
Now that we’ve finally gone and found ourselves a generators it’s time to use it! To begin with, your character probably doesn’t know how to use a generator at all. Well this is done on purpose. The only way your character can actually make use of a generator is if they started with the Electrician occupation, or if you’ve read a specific magazine in the game.
How to Use Generators Magazine
There is one literature piece called How to Use Generators. Without first reading this, you won’t be able to interact with generators beyond picking them up and moving them. Finding this shouldn’t give you too much trouble. Try checking the regular places you’d find books like bookcases in houses or even in mailboxes. I can’t really give you any specific locations on where you can find it as it’s up to RNG.
Once you’ve found a copy of this book, all you have to do is read it from your inventory. your character won’t need any other specific skill levels to read it.
Refueling The Generator
Now that you have a generator and know how to use it, the first thing you will have to do is make sure it has fuel. The generator runs solely on fuel so when it runs out, so will your power. Having a good supply of fuel to use for the generator is integral to keeping it running.
If you are having trouble finding fuel you can check out this guide to siphoning gas from vehicles. If you find some cars that are trashed out but still have fuel in them, they may still be of use!
To put fuel into the generator, equip the gas can into one of your free hands. Now, right-click on the generator to see the interaction menu. Now just select the option Add Fuel. Your character will start to fill up the generator. A full can of gas will fill the generator up 80% of it’s max capacity. You cannot siphon fuel out of generators so make sure you don’t need the fuel for something else first.
By keeping a working generator next to a gas station, you can power the fuel pumps as well. Once the fuel pumps are powered you can use them to get a near unlimited amount of gas. Always good to keep in mind if you are struggling to find gas.
Connecting and Starting the Generator
Once you have fuel you are ready to go! Make sure you place the generator outside as the fumes from t running will damage your character. Having a generator running in an enclosed space will slowly make your character’s health go down if you are in the same room. So with the generator outside, you can hook it up to your safehouse! Right-click the generator and select Connect Generator.
This will cause the generator to be connected with your safehouse. All you have to do is turn the generator on and the appliances nearby will become powered. You can then use them as normal. You finally have power in your base again! The light switches will also be working. Keep in mind that the more devices you are using, the more fuel will be used by the generator each day.
There is a great table found on the Project Zomboid wiki page that shows how much gas will be used depending on how many devices are being used. You can see the current power consumption on the generator by right-clicking it and selecting Generator Info.
Maintaining/Fixing the Generator
Generators will slowly start to lose durability as they are being used. Your character will have to constantly maintain them. If the generator durability goes below 20% there is a chance that the generator will explode leading to a fire in your base. Trust me when I say you want to maintain it pretty well.
To fix a generator, you will need some electronic scrap. Luckily this is very easy to find. You can get electronic scrap by taking apart electronic items such as headphones and digital watches with a screwdriver. Once you have some scrap, turn the generator off and right-click it. You should see and option as below which reads Fix Generator.
You will not need any tools or minimum electronics level to fix the generator. Just a good pair of hands! Each piece of electronic scrap you use to fix the generator will repair 4% of the total durability of the generator.
As stated on the Wiki, they will lose around 1.2% durability each day that they are running. This means that each electronic scrap you have will buy you around 3 in-game days for the generator.
Spawning in a Generator Using Cheats
If all else fails and you really can’t find a generator in your world don’t fret. It is possible to spawn one in using the in-game cheats. If you are the admin of a multiplayer server you are able to simply spawn in whichever items you wish. This includes generators as well.
You can follow this guide on how to spawn items in Project Zomboid which should tell you everything you need to know about just placing one in. This includes instructions for spawning items in Single player and multiplayer modes. Let’s face it, you would’ve found one anyway right? If spawning in a generator keeps the squad happy at base, then it has to be done.