Stone, Flint, Clay & Ore in Project Zomboid (B42)

The 5 steps to rock, clay and ore

1. 1
   

   Step 1

   Know the two kinds of rock

   • 2kinds of rock: stored and generated

   • The map files of the game store some rocks.
   • A new save starts with them in the same place, so a map can show them: the clay patches and the 7 boulders at Fallas Lake in this guide, and the 260 boulder tiles of the Boulders layer.
   • The game also has a world generator.
   • Its Lua files list iron and copper ore veins, boulders, flint and limestone, and its code keeps a seed for each save and uses it in the random numbers that place things.
   • So we expect the same spot to hold ore in one save and nothing in another, and two saves with the same seed to match.
   • That is why this site has a map layer for the stored rocks and none for ore.
   • We read this in the game files.
   • We did not compare two saves in play, we have no decompiled game code, and we cannot say how much of the vanilla map the generator touches or where it puts ore.
2. 2
   

   Step 2

   Forage for stone, flint and limestone

   • 120Stones weight, roadside & dirt
   • 10in forest

   • Stones are a foraging category you can see from Foraging level 0.
   • The table shows how heavily the game rolls the category in each zone: the larger the number, the more often a find in that zone is a stone.
   • The file calls it a weight, not a percentage.
   • Roadside & dirt zones carry the most (120), but they also have the fewest finds per area (3 to 5, against 8 to 10 in forest).
   • Inside the category, Stone, Flint Nodule and Sharp Flint Flake have the same weight, 5, in every zone.
   • Limestone, Large Smooth Flat Stone and Large Stone have weight 1, and Large Stone is only rolled in forest and vegetation zones.
   • We have not measured finds per hour.

   Open the zone table

   Zone	Weight of the Stones category	Finds per area
   Roadside & dirt	120	3 to 5
   Vegetation	30	6 to 8
   PH forest	25	6 to 8
   PR forest	25	6 to 8
   Town	15	3 to 5
   Trailer park	15	1.5 to 5
   Birch forest	10	6 to 8
   Deep forest	10	8 to 10
   Farmland	10	5 to 7.5
   Forest	10	8 to 10
   Organic forest	10	8 to 10

   Traits that help

   The Mason trait adds 30 to the Stones category, and the Bushcrafter trait adds 5 to the Stones category. The Foraging page lists every item and zone.

3. 3
   

   Step 3

   Mine the boulders at Fallas Lake

   • 7boulders in the map files, all at Fallas Lake

   • The map files place 7 flint and limestone boulders at Fallas Lake: 3 flint and 4 limestone.
   • They are the only ones in the map files, and a new save starts with them in the same place.
   • Find them on the Ore & flint layer.
   • Mine a boulder with any hammer, a sledgehammer, a club hammer, a stone maul or a pickaxe.
   • A flint boulder gives 1 Flint Nodule and 1 Sharp Flint Flake, plus 1 to 4 more flint pieces.
   • A limestone boulder gives 3 to 6 Limestone.
   • 55 more tiles of the ore sprites sit in one row at the very north edge of the map.
   • It looks like a sprite gallery, not a place, and we have not checked that it can be reached in play, so it is not on the layer.
4. 4
   

   Step 4

   Dig clay

   • 70clay patches on the map
   • 3,102clay tiles

   • Take a shovel and an empty sack to a clay patch and dig: the sack becomes a Sack of Clay.
   • The Clay layer shows 70 patches made of 3,102 clay tiles; the biggest holds 289 tiles.
   • Each patch is in the map files, so a new save starts with it in the same place.
   • You can also forage Clay: 2 to 4 at a time, in forest, farmland and vegetation zones, and hardly along roads.
   • Rain raises the chance by 30%.
   • The game can also turn some dirt on lake and river shores into clay when it builds the world.
   • Those spots are chosen by the game at play time and are not on the map.
5. 5
   

   Step 5

   Look for iron and copper ore

   • Foraging 7to forage iron ore

   • Iron Ore is a rare forest find: it needs Foraging level 7 and is only rolled in forest zones, with the lowest weight (1).
   • Copper Ore is in no foraging table.
   • It comes from a copper ore node.
   • The map files hold none you can reach, and the only place the game's files define copper and iron ore veins is its world generator, which we expect to depend on your save's seed.
   • Small, Medium and Large nodes give 1, 2 and 3 pieces.
   • You mine them with the tools of step 3.
   • So the way we can support is to walk your own world.
   • The map files hold no ore node you can reach and pin: the ore tiles they do hold are the gallery row from step 3.
   • We have not found a node in play, so we cannot say how common they are.

Common mistakes

• Looking for a shared ore map. The world generator takes each save's seed, so another player's ore spot is probably not yours, unless you share a seed. We have not tested it.
• Foraging for clay along roads. The roadside zones carry hardly any weight for Clay (1). Use forest or farmland, or dig a patch from the layer.
• Expecting copper from foraging. No foraging table lists it.