New Player 1.20.0-pre.7 question

[Artos]

Hello, as title says. I am new player, just got the game and was wondering how stable is the 1.20 pre 7 update.
Based on how many of them came out in the past month. I would assume that the "stable" patch will come out sooner rather than later.
So my question is, should I start my journey with 1.19.8 or 1.20 pre ? How much of new stuff is world generated ? Will new stuff begin to generate if I start on 1.19 and then update to 1.20 ?

Again, I haven't played this game yet, I don't know how game updates work here, but I wouldn't want to find out in a week that I am not able to experience new stuff because my world was created on an older version.

Edited October 25, 2024 by Artos

[Krougal]

Oh didn't know 7 was out. I have been playing on 6 it has been very stable for me.

I only played 1.19.8 before that as I've only been playing a few weeks myself.

I would say go for it since you have nothing to lose as a new player.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2024 by Krougal

[ifoz]

Pre-7 worlds are not designed to be long-term and will not generate the new story locations when those are added soon. I would advise against using pre-7 for anything more than a one-off test world. 

Also welcome to Vintage Story!

[Artos]

10 minutes ago, ifoz said:

Pre-7 worlds are not designed to be long-term and will not generate the new story locations when those are added soon. I would advise against using pre-7 for anything more than a one-off test world. 

Also welcome to Vintage Story!

Ohh, so world generation doesn't work like the other game (yeah I heard people don't like mentioning it) where older saves can still generate new terrain... Its a shame then. Knowing that new content is around the corner, but I will be forced to change my save if I want to experience it.

 

I want a long term save  I guess I need to wait

Edited October 25, 2024 by Artos

[ifoz]

8 minutes ago, Artos said:

Ohh, so world generation doesn't work like the other game (yeah I heard people don't like mentioning it) where older saves can still generate new terrain... Its a shame then. Knowing that new content is around the corner, but I will be forced to change my save if I want to experience it.

Old saves can still generate new terrain, the blending is arguably better than in MC, but the new big lore locations themselves may or may not be able to generate.

You could always make a save on 1.19.8 and hope that they do generate, or even just use 1.19.8 as a "tutorial" to learn the game and then start a longer-term world when 1.20 stable drops.

Edited October 25, 2024 by ifoz

[Krougal]

I don't think it is going to make a difference getting the new locations if you are going from 1.19 or 1.20PR unless you heard otherwise. Even the PR versions update the save file every time I update the version.

You'll have to go far enough to generate new chunks in the new version of course.

 

Also if you are used to MC mods and everything having to be redone every little stinking update, we don't have that issue. Now mods may stop working from time to time and need to be updated still, but I am using a lot of older mods with the PR just fine. The modding support here is built in rather than an after thought and it shows. You can even add and remove mods  at will (although I wouldn't advise it with content mods).

 

[Thorfinn]

Welcome to the forums, @Artos, and hope you have a great time!

I'm with @Krougal on this. While pre-7 might change a 1.19 world beyond what could be recovered in the 1.20 release, a pre-7 should update just fine. Not guaranteed, but so far, it's always been the case as long as I've been playing. The only upside/downside is that when 1.20 comes out, it may have slightly different resource generation, so your corner of the world may have more or less than the design point. Big deal, right? Just take an expedition to new territory and top up.

[Artos]

11 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

Welcome to the forums, @Artos, and hope you have a great time!

I'm with @Krougal on this. While pre-7 might change a 1.19 world beyond what could be recovered in the 1.20 release, a pre-7 should update just fine. Not guaranteed, but so far, it's always been the case as long as I've been playing. The only upside/downside is that when 1.20 comes out, it may have slightly different resource generation, so your corner of the world may have more or less than the design point. Big deal, right? Just take an expedition to new territory and top up.

See, thats what I was thinking, that once the new full release drops, I can just update my game/save, go on some journey and generate new terrain to find the new stuff. I don't mind traveling, but I do mind sinking my time to essentially give up and start again, because the new structures will never generate. However @ifoz made me believe thats not the case and those new structures won't show up or rather the chances are low. 

On 10/25/2024 at 3:38 AM, ifoz said:

Pre-7 worlds are not designed to be long-term and will not generate the new story locations when those are added soon. I would advise against using pre-7 for anything more than a one-off test world. 

Also welcome to Vintage Story!

 

On 10/25/2024 at 3:55 AM, ifoz said:

 but the new big lore locations themselves may or may not be able to generate.

I don't know how the generation works, hence me asking the questions. For all I know those new structures could be a separate generation setting that won't be active on old saves... However from player's point of view that would be a really bad move, so logically one would think devs would do anything to make it work on old saves to benefit players and protect old saves. 

[ifoz]

1 hour ago, Artos said:

I don't know how the generation works, hence me asking the questions. For all I know those new structures could be a separate generation setting that won't be active on old saves... However from player's point of view that would be a really bad move, so logically one would think devs would do anything to make it work on old saves to benefit players and protect old saves. 

I don't know exactly either, I just know that one of the new locations utilises the game's "dimensions" system (first of it's kind) and so I do not know if this needs to be present on world creation to function correctly.
I'm sure an ultimate goal of the devs' is to have the new story locations compatible with old saves, though.

Edited October 26, 2024 by ifoz

[Thorfinn]

Quote

[O]nce the new full release drops, I can just update my game/save, go on some journey and generate new terrain to find the new stuff.

That's how it worked in the past. Don't know why this time would be different. If it turns out I'm wrong, and it doesn't update properly, DM me and I'll give you a stack of low fertility soil.

I'm pretty sure the first big story location does not exist in the world until you perform the action that triggers it. The game then finds some unexplored region and generates it there. So the more of the world you explore before that, the further that location is going to be from home. I'm guessing the next chapter locations will be handled the same way.

Edited October 26, 2024 by Thorfinn

[ifoz]

10 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

I'm pretty sure the first big story location does not exist in the world until you perform the action that triggers it. The game then finds some unexplored region and generates it there. So the more of the world you explore before that, the further that location is going to be from home. I'm guessing the next chapter locations will be handled the same way.

It does exist before it gets marked on your map actually, I've heard a story from someone who accidentally built their base on top of it, was mining and then hit a "this area is claimed by a higher power" zone. 

It spawns in upon initial world generation.

[Brady_The]

7 minutes ago, ifoz said:

It does exist before it gets marked on your map actually, I've heard a story from someone who accidentally built their base on top of it, was mining and then hit a "this area is claimed by a higher power" zone. 

It spawns in upon initial world generation.

Yup.

 

[Krougal]

I would usually expect to need to start a new save anyway. This is for all intents and purposes an early access game and it sure as hell should not be the devs priority to make sure it is compatible with your old save. If you can keep playing the same save it's great but I never expect it.

I'd still go with the PR. There is a lot of cool new stuff and you might as well start learning it right from the get go. OTOH, I guess if you consider yourself dependent on the wiki, then 19.8 would be your safer bet I guess.

If you are that intent on keeping your progress in a new save game, can always cheat stuff in and/or I'm sure there are utilities to copy just the chunks you want, etc.

[Thorfinn]

OK, I'm wrong. That sure was convenient for him. I'm always several thousand into unexplored areas.

Wonder why they do it that way? The RA is horrendously tall. Yes, the world does spawn terrain that rugged, but RA terrain is typically different than standard mapgen. Merging the terrain would have been a whole lot easier if it generated after the trigger. Unless, I guess, it generates a dozen chunks around the RA at worldgen. Which means you could probably figure out from the save where it is... 

@Artos, there is a command to generate the first of the special areas, if for whatever reason it was not on your map. Generally because an older version, but also if you just want to repeat it, typically for a multiplayer world. Let's see if I can go 0/2. They will probably include a command to spawn whatever new special areas there are, just like last time.

[EDIT]

OMG! One game I was running south-ish for several days to find a place to settle and encountered a blockhouse-looking ruin that seemed weird. Now I realize where I have seen that "ruin" and understand why I've never randomly encountered it since. 

[EDIT2]

Has anyone ever bothered to do a backup before triggering the first special area, then reloaded that backup and gone to see what it looks like?

Edited October 27, 2024 by Thorfinn

[Thorfinn]

2 hours ago, Krougal said:

I would usually expect to need to start a new save anyway.

Since I do permadeath, I always expect to start a new save. Made it to August once last time in 1.20-pre6.