GarageWorks - Tire Racks, Battery Charging and Garage Storage for Project Zomboid

GarageWorks is a garage storage and workshop furniture mod for Project Zomboid Build 42.21 that introduces specialized racks, cabinets, and containers for organizing vehicle parts and maintenance supplies. Instead of filling your garage with ordinary wooden crates, you can build practical storage furniture designed specifically for tires, batteries, mufflers, fuel cans, and propane tanks.

The modification introduces several types of garage equipment, visual item storage, an automatic battery charging cabinet, and configurable weight reduction for stored items.

GarageWorks is especially useful for survivors who maintain multiple vehicles, collect spare parts, or want to build a functional automotive workshop.

Specialized Garage Furniture and Storage

The main feature of GarageWorks is a collection of purpose-built storage furniture that can hold significantly more vehicle-related equipment than ordinary crates.

The mod introduces six storage structures:

All construction recipes appear in a dedicated GarageWorks category in the building menu.

Tire Racks - Store Up to 27 Tires

GarageWorks introduces two types of tire racks for organizing vehicle wheels.

Tire Rack

• Occupies one tile.
• Contains three storage levels.
• Holds four tires per level.
• Total capacity of 12 tires.
• Requires Welding level 2.

Long Tire Rack

• Occupies two tiles.
• Contains three storage levels.
• Holds nine tires per level.
• Total capacity of 27 tires.
• Requires Welding level 3.

The long rack uses a container on each tile with a shared capacity limit, allowing players to access storage from either end.

Both racks visually display stored tires level by level.

They support all compatible tires, including modded vehicle parts such as those introduced by KI5 modifications.

Battery Cabinet with Automatic Charging

The Battery Cabinet is a low wooden storage cabinet designed for car batteries.

It can hold up to six batteries and features an integrated charger on top.

Main features:

• Stores six car batteries.
• Automatically charges stored batteries when the cabinet's tile has electrical power.
• Supports the electrical grid and generators.
• Uses an indicator light to show charging progress.

Charging indicator colors:

• Red: Batteries are charging.
• Green: All stored batteries are fully charged.

By default, a complete charging cycle takes 12 in-game hours, compared with six hours for the vanilla battery charger.

The charging duration can be customized through the mod's Sandbox settings.

Construction requires Carpentry level 3 and Electrical level 2.

Muffler Rack and Fuel Can Storage

GarageWorks also introduces furniture for storing vehicle exhaust components and fuel containers.

Muffler Rack

The Muffler Rack can store 12 mufflers:

• Eight mufflers hang from hooks on two bars.
• Four mufflers rest on the bottom shelf.
• Compatible modded mufflers are supported.
• Requires Welding level 2.

Fuel Can Rack

The Fuel Can Rack separates containers according to their size.

Storage configuration:

• Bottom shelf: Four fuel cans with a capacity of 20 liters or more.
• Middle shelf: Four smaller fuel cans.
• Top shelf: Four smaller fuel cans.

The total capacity is 12 fuel containers, depending on their sizes.

Gas cans and jerrycans introduced by other mods are also supported.

Unlike many other stored items, fuel containers retain their fuel weight. Separate shelf containers prevent the total load from exceeding the game's ground-container restrictions.

Propane Cage - Store 36 Tanks

The Propane Cage is a large wire-mesh storage structure designed for propane tanks.

Features:

• Occupies two tiles.
• Includes two doors.
• Holds 18 propane tanks per tile.
• Total capacity of 36 propane tanks.
• Requires Welding level 3.

The structure uses separate containers on its two tiles.

When a propane tank is removed, its normal weight is restored according to its remaining contents.

Reduced Item Weight and Storage Limits

One of the most useful GarageWorks features is its configurable stored-item weight system.

While placed inside compatible GarageWorks furniture, many items have their effective weight reduced.

Default stored weight: 2.5 per item.

This value helps keep heavily stocked racks within Project Zomboid's ground-container weight limit of 100.

Players can customize the weight setting up to a maximum of 2.6.

Fuel containers retain their fuel-related weight, with storage handled through separate shelf compartments.

Items immediately return to their normal weight after leaving GarageWorks storage, including when moved into vehicle trunks.

Weight adjustments and storage limits are handled by the server in multiplayer.

Unlocking GarageWorks Recipes

The modification introduces its own crafting recipes.

Players can learn them by finding two specialized magazines, which may appear in:

• Bookstores.
• Automotive supply stores.
• Mechanic-related locations.

Recipes can also be learned automatically by reaching the appropriate skill levels.

Automatic recipe unlocking:

• Standard metal racks: Welding level 3.
• Long Tire Rack and Propane Cage: Welding level 4.
• Battery Cabinet: Electrical level 3 and Carpentry level 3.

These automatic unlocking requirements are separate from the minimum skills needed to construct the furniture.

All building recipes can be found in the GarageWorks tab.

Sandbox Settings and Multiplayer

GarageWorks includes configurable Sandbox options.

Available settings:

• Stored Item Weight: Default value 2.5, maximum 2.6.
• Battery Charging Duration: Default 12 in-game hours for a full charge.

The mod supports multiplayer, with the server handling item weights, container capacities, and battery charging.

Clients display the stored objects and their visual arrangement.

Inventory Tetris is supported, with GarageWorks maintaining its own furniture storage limits.

The mod can also be added to existing saves. Characters who already meet the required skill levels receive the appropriate recipes within approximately 10 in-game minutes.

Safe Removal - Important Information

GarageWorks should not be removed directly from a save that has already loaded it.

The game remembers its custom furniture, and simply disabling the main modification may cause players to crash when joining an existing world or server.

To address this, the Workshop download includes a second mod called GarageWorks Safe Removal.

How to remove GarageWorks safely:

1. Back up your save or multiplayer server.
2. Disable the main GarageWorks mod.
3. Enable GarageWorksSafeRemoval instead.
4. Load your existing world.
5. Empty or dismantle the remaining GarageWorks furniture as needed.

For multiplayer servers, replace GarageWorks with GarageWorksSafeRemoval in the Mods= configuration while keeping the same Workshop ID.

With Safe Removal enabled:

• Existing furniture remains in the world.
• Stored items can be retrieved.
• Furniture can be dismantled.
• Items return to their normal weight.
• New GarageWorks furniture cannot be constructed.

Keep GarageWorks Safe Removal enabled for the entire lifetime of that save.

Compatibility and Requirements

GarageWorks is designed for Project Zomboid Build 42.21.

Compatibility information:

• Build 42.21: Supported.
• Singleplayer: Supported.
• Multiplayer: Supported.
• Existing saves: Can be added during an ongoing playthrough.
• Inventory Tetris: Compatible since GarageWorks version 1.2.1.
• Modded vehicle parts: Supports compatible tires, mufflers, and fuel containers.
• Safe removal: Provided through a separate bundled mod.

The modification is based on VN's Garage by Charlie Powell (cdp1337) and has been rewritten for Build 42.21 with new sprites and updated functionality.

The interface includes English, French, Russian, and several other translations.