Where to Find a Generator in Project Zomboid (Build 42)

In Project Zomboid's loot tables, generators spawn in one room type only: the electronics store, in its junk list. The tables hold 4 generators — Lectromax (weight 10), ValuTech (weight 10), Premium Technologies (weight 10), Old (weight 40), so the Old generator is listed 4 times as heavily as each of the others.

Knox County has 13 electronics store buildings — ring them all on the map:

• Electronics store · Brandenburg · square 2023, 6371
• Electronics store · Ekron · square 449, 9790
• Electronics store · Fallas Lake · square 7294, 8348
• Electronics store · Louisville · square 13594, 1333
• Electronics store · Louisville · square 13423, 1466
• Electronics store · Louisville · square 13172, 1641
• Electronics store · Louisville · square 12527, 1673
• Electronics store · Muldraugh · square 10612, 9610
• Electronics store · Riverside · square 6238, 5208
• Electronics store · Riverside · square 6659, 5253
• Electronics store · Riverside · square 6206, 5360
• Electronics store · Valley Station · square 13934, 5832
• Electronics store · West Point · square 11863, 6817

The game gives the same room name to 39 one-room structures of 3×3 squares by roads and car parks. What they are is not in the files, so they are not on the map.

A running, connected generator powers everything within 20 squares of it and 3 floors above and below — the game's defaults, which the sandbox options “Generator tile range” and “Generator vertical range” can change. Its tank holds 10 litres.

Every in-game hour it burns its own base draw plus the draw of everything it powers, multiplied by the “Generator Fuel Consumption” setting — 0.1 in every preset. At that setting:

From the game's code (IsoGenerator). A fridge or freezer that takes up two squares counts twice (PZwiki, Generator).

How long will a full tank last?

Before you switch it on

• Keep it outside. While a generator runs inside a building, the game marks the building toxic; PZwiki notes the fumes drain health fast, and that the building stays unsafe until the generator is off.
• Connecting it takes Electrical 3 — or 2 with the Inventive trait — the Electrician or Engineer occupation, or having read the magazine below (PZwiki).
• Fuel goes in with “Add Fuel” while it is off; one gas can fills it, and the fuel stays in when you move it (PZwiki).
• Condition wears down as it runs. The code marks 40, 30 and 20 as its low, warning and critical levels; PZwiki notes that below 20 it can break, and at 0 it can catch fire or explode. Scrap Electronics repairs it.

Points marked PZwiki are adapted from PZwiki, Generator (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).

“Magazine: How to Use Generators” can spawn in 55 room types. Electronics stores list it with the highest weight; homes, garages and tool stores list it too.

The room types whose loot tables list a propane tank with the highest weights:

Weights are the game's own numbers inside each loot list: they compare items in the same list, they are not a percentage chance.