ZombieBuddy policy & signatures

ZombieBuddy loads Viewpoint and each mod that has javaJarFile. Viewpoint loads addons. Viewpoint obeys two ZombieBuddy settings: the policy, and the signatures. No other ZombieBuddy approval applies to addons.

The ZombieBuddy policy

ZombieBuddy has a policy for jars that the player has not approved: prompt, deny-new or allow-all. Viewpoint reads it one time, when the game starts.

Policy	Addons with Java
deny-new, a policy that Viewpoint does not know, or a policy that Viewpoint cannot read	Cannot start. The card gives the cause. Resource packs continue to work.
allow-all or prompt	Viewpoint’s consent controls the start.

Only these two policies hand the decision to the player. A newer, stricter ZombieBuddy policy stops the addons until Viewpoint knows it. Viewpoint is never more permissive than ZombieBuddy.

With allow-all, ZombieBuddy ignores the setting for unsigned mods and the .zbs file. Viewpoint does not: it still applies the rules below to each addon, and a .zbs that is not correct still stops it.

An optional signature

You can put a .zbs file next to the jar, with the name of the jar: lean.jar.zbs. Viewpoint checks it with the ZombieBuddy signature check.

The .zbs file	Result
Is correct	The Trust tab shows Signed by X.
Is not correct	The addon never starts.
Cannot be checked now, for example when the computer is offline	The addon does not start. The card says its signature could not be checked. Click Rescan to try again. Viewpoint also tries again after a minute.
Is missing	The Trust tab shows Unsigned. If ZombieBuddy refuses unsigned mods, the addon does not start.

The check reads the Steam profile of the signer, and this can take some seconds. Viewpoint does it in the background. The card shows Checking until it is done, and the game does not wait. For the rest of the session, Viewpoint keeps the keys it fetched, so the next jar of the same signer needs no new request. For the authors in the ZombieBuddy list, Viewpoint takes the keys from that list (ZombieBuddy keeps a copy on the disk), so a computer that is offline can still check their jars. If a signer changes their key, Viewpoint asks Steam once more. If a signer revokes a key, a jar that was checked with it stays valid until you restart the game. The .zbs file must be in the package’s folder, and it must be smaller than 64 KiB.

X is the SteamID64 that the .zbs file declares, and the file is correct for that SteamID64. Viewpoint does not compare it with the account that uploaded the mod to the Workshop. A signature tells who signed the file. It does not tell who uploaded it, and it does not tell what the file does.

What does not apply

• Viewpoint’s label is not a ZombieBuddy approval. A ZombieBuddy approval is not a label.
• The ZombieBuddy approval of a jar does not apply to addons.
• The ZombieBuddy list of authors that the player trusts does not apply to addons. Viewpoint uses only the keys in it, to check a signature.

For addon authors

• Do not set javaJarFile for an addon.
• If you have a ZombieBuddy build and an addon build of the same code, give them different mod ids.
• Do not refer to ZombieBuddy from an addon. Viewpoint refuses the jar. This includes WatchesAPI.
• Two ZombieBuddy annotations are the exception. Viewpoint reads @Patch and @Exposer.LuaClass in an addon jar and runs them as hooks and as exports. See Migrating from ZombieBuddy.
• A Shaderpack has no jar. ZombieBuddy has no part in it.

Note

A signature is optional. If you sign, you must sign each new version of the jar. A signature that is not correct stops the addon.