Palm Pilots

A pocket-sized piece of 1998 for the end of the world.

Bring a fully functional handheld organizer into Project Zomboid—plan supply runs, write survivor notes, check the date, crunch numbers, play Snake or Chess, and beam data to nearby survivors.

Features · Installation · Controls · Multiplayer

Knox Country has no app store, no cell service, and very few working luxuries. Fortunately, your PalmPilot doesn't need any of them.

Every PalmPilot has its own identity, battery level, nickname, settings, tasks, memos, Snake high score, and Chess position. Its data stays with the device when it is dropped, stored, traded, saved, or carried into another multiplayer session.

Create named lists, add checklist items, mark jobs complete, and sort everything by name or creation date. It is perfect for loot routes, safehouse chores, and the ever-growing list of things that can kill you.

Keep multi-line notes directly on the device: generator locations, radio frequencies, map coordinates, suspiciously specific final words—you decide.

Use a functional calculator and check the current in-game date and time without breaking immersion.

The classic time-waster, now available during the apocalypse. While you actively play, Snake slowly reduces your character's Boredom and Unhappiness (the stat behind Depression). In multiplayer, the server applies and syncs this benefit. Pausing, leaving the game, or running out of battery stops it. Your high score belongs to the device, so think twice before lending it out.

Chess opens with Continue solo game, New solo game, and New multiplayer game. In the solo game, play White against a compact computer opponent. Tap a piece to highlight it and its legal destinations, then tap a destination. The computer pauses briefly before moving its piece across the board. Captured White pieces appear left of the board; captured Black pieces appear right. The game supports check and checkmate, castling, en passant, pawn promotion, stalemate, and the fifty-move draw rule. The solo position and captured pieces are saved on each physical PalmPilot, so you can close it and continue later. Older saved positions infer captured pieces from the board where possible.

For two-player Chess, both survivors need a powered PalmPilot in hand with Beam enabled. Choose New multiplayer game, select a player within 3 tiles on the same floor, and wait for them to accept. The inviter plays White, and each player sees their own pieces at the bottom of the board. The server checks every move. Leaving, putting a PalmPilot away, losing power, or moving out of range disconnects the match. The remaining player sees a Disconnected screen with a button to start a new multiplayer game. Live matches do not overwrite either player's solo save and cannot be continued after disconnecting; Continue solo game opens only the saved computer game. Active Chess play slowly reduces Boredom and Unhappiness at the same rate as Snake; multiplayer applies the benefit on the server. The benefit stops after 30 seconds without a tap or when you leave Chess. This is an original in-mod game; the ChessGenius Palm OS .prc is not included or executed.

Send one task list, one memo, or Beam All to copy everything to a nearby PalmPilot. Repeated transfers update previously received entries instead of filling the device with duplicates.

Beam transfers are server-authoritative and validated before any data changes hands.

1. Both survivors need a PalmPilot nearby on the same floor.
2. Open Beam and choose a device or player.
3. Select a task list, memo, or Beam All.
4. The receiving PalmPilot stores its own local copy.

Beam can be disabled in the device settings whenever a survivor wants a little post-apocalyptic privacy. Opening devices, synchronization, and transfers support Build 42.20's multiplayer inventory behavior.

PalmPilots are intentionally rare. Search places where late-1990s professionals and electronics are likely to have left them:

• Executive and ordinary office desks
• Electronics stores and electronics crates
• Pawnshop display cases
• Wealthy home offices
• Office-worker zombies, who visibly carry the device in one hand

Use the Palm Pilots → PalmPilot Spawn Rate sandbox setting to choose None, Very Rare, Rare, Normal, or Common independently of higher Other Loot rates. The default, Original Behavior, preserves the previous spawn rates: containers follow Other Loot and half of office-worker zombies carry a PalmPilot. Very Rare gives roughly one-tenth of the Normal container rate and 5% of office-worker zombies; Rare gives roughly three-tenths and 15%. Setting Other Loot to None still prevents natural PalmPilot spawns. Restart the game or server after changing this setting. It affects only new loot and newly spawned zombies, not devices already in the world.

A PalmPilot accepts standard removable batteries and runs for roughly 24 in-game hours of continuous screen use on a full charge. Closing the interface stops active screen drain, so switch it off when the horde arrives.

1. Open the Palm Pilot Workshop page.
2. Select Subscribe.
3. Enable Palm Pilots from Project Zomboid's Mods menu before loading your save.

1. Download or clone this repository.
2. Copy Contents/mods/Palm Pilots into your local Zomboid/mods directory.
3. Enable Palm Pilots in the in-game Mods menu.

On Windows, the final folder will normally look like:

C:\Users\<your-name>\Zomboid\mods\Palm Pilots\

Found a bug, balance issue, or a delightfully era-appropriate feature idea? Open an issue in the repository issue tracker or leave feedback on the Steam Workshop page.