Weathering of World and Items

[LordRaygon007]

Hiya everyone, I'm still just getting into VS and love it so far especially with the integration of modders and devs working together. 

I have a suggestion that I feel adds to the immersion but may be a bit much. This would be a weathering mechanic where the world effects everything over time such as iron tools or block rusting especially when near salt water, as well as building blocks becoming overgrown with vines/moss/weeds/etc which forces the player to upkeep their places. 

Now the rate at which this is done could depend on a world setting or be determined by the location and climate. 

I feel like this would be a neat mechanic in the long run when a player comes back to an old base they built a few in game years ago and seeing it in somewhat of a ruined state.

Thanks for reading.

[Nagahiro]

I like this idea. as long as it's a toggleable setting in world creation of course. currently, I like the soil gravity setting as it simulates "erosion" and landslides, although it doesn't affect rocks.

this idea is very compatible with worlds with large spawn radius I believe. when you die, you get spawned so far away that you might as well create a new world. stumbling upon the ruins of your old camp or old home would be nice. this could also be a way for players to get the aged wood and aged stone blocks from ruins without pilfering every single ruin in sight.

there's this minecraft mod called Weathering, it adds fallen leaves, moss growing on wet stone, wood turning to ash, and metals rusting. really love that mod, and does in fact show that it might be possible to simulate in VS, although maybe the climate and location checks might add complexity to it, but I see the vision. would be nice if salt can also form like saltpeter on coastal rock faces that you can scrape off.

as for the "upkeep" to maintain your base, ehhhh, it might give people something to do during downtimes, or for multiplayer servers to have menial chores to do, for when most jobs have already been taken up, or give someone willing to help with something to do. but during singleplayer runs... yeah it's better if it's a toggleable setting. not many people would like that, although, I for one would like a dynamically changing world. a stagnant world is a dead world, who am I to say where the weeds sprout or when the walls crumble, decay is part of living as it gives meaning to being alive

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums! It's a neat idea, but I'd be concerned about it both taking up processing power that's better used elsewhere, or becoming more tedious than fun to deal with. Immersion is nice, but having to constantly maintain your base to keep it from literally falling apart will get frustrating fairly quickly, especially if you have a large base. Likewise, the main plot has the player venturing away from home for extended periods, so having one's base fall apart while away could be a big turn-off from ever venturing too far from home.

However, I could see it potentially being an interesting challenge feature for Homo Sapiens, since I don't think there's as many challenges/hazards in that gamemode.

2 hours ago, LordRaygon007 said:

I feel like this would be a neat mechanic in the long run when a player comes back to an old base they built a few in game years ago and seeing it in somewhat of a ruined state.

Now if it was structured so that the weathering only takes place on player-made structures if they are away from the chunks for a long time, then it might work as an immersive feature without being too frustrating. However, I'm not sure how you'd take chiseled blocks into account, and I'm also not sure how it would work in multiplayer, given that it's possible for a lot of time to pass if you haven't played on the server in a while. Could be a hassle there, but then again that might be a feature that a lot of servers end up turning off.

[LordRaygon007]

Thanks for the welcomes and feedback. 

Yeah I figured that it would take up processing power, however food already has a perishable mechanic that tracks everything so I'd assume it wouldn't be too demanding on systems because their engine seems to run really well from what I've noticed. 

@Nagahiro I also use the Immersive Weathering mod and absolutely love it, the upkeep could probably be maintained with good preparation. Similar to how Copper in MC can be waxed maybe something could be done in VS that extends the time before something gets weathered. 

@LadyWYT Yeah I was thinking it would simply apply to things the player has interacted with. There's this one mod I downloaded for VS called Weeds something idk but I basically makes it so that your farm land needs caring too to avoid random mushrooms or weeds growing about. 

The scale of this weathering affect would likely be in terms of in-game years, like for example a iron bars placed by the player will rust at a rate of 1x which lets say for iron is 1yr, but the player can apply a so-called wax to decrease the rate to say 0.5x so it'll take 2yrs to rust. However if said bars are near saltwater that'll accelerate the process to 1.5x without being waxed. And these times could be adjust just like all the other world settings too.

Chiseled blocks I did not consider tbh; maybe there could be some default partial block that which the chiseled block can turn into like chiseled bricks turn into a generic rubble? 

I'm for one hoping they add something like this as they seem to be leaning heavily on "realism" which this could be part of the core mechanic that forces players to build structures with better materials to stand against the test of time, not too similar to preparing for those long cold winters. 

Thanks again for the words of wisdom.

[Chuckerton]

I think a more lightweight version of this for buildings would just be if youre really far away from your base for a really long time itll be aged. That way stuff youre always around doesnt decay and you dont have to worry about constantly maintaining it. Its only if you build a base and then abandon it for a long time that it will become decayed. 

For tools though, i do like the idea of them rusting if you leave them outdoors in the rain. I know you can lean stuff against walls, a feature i use alot to rest tools against walls to free up my hotbar. I think it would be kinda cool for it to decay if i forget about it. 

[Nagahiro]

5 hours ago, Chuckerton said:

I think a more lightweight version of this for buildings would just be if youre really far away from your base for a really long time itll be aged. That way stuff youre always around doesnt decay and you dont have to worry about constantly maintaining it. Its only if you build a base and then abandon it for a long time that it will become decayed. 

I agree. like 2 or 3 years of abandonment at least

7 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

However, I'm not sure how you'd take chiseled blocks into account

I was thinking it's like placing reed mats and wallpapers. it's possible to just overlay those on the chiseled blocks, or somehow change the material of the chiseled bits with their respective weathered texture

7 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

but I'd be concerned about it both taking up processing power that's better used elsewhere

but you are ultimately right to be concerned on the technical side, even as it is the game has some difficulties with block updates and chunk loading. that was my first concerns as well.

overall, it's not a feature for everyone, I think it's interesting to experiment on, there's potential, if you could call it that. the world of VS feels so alive as it is right now, especially with the changing of seasons, so, really, I don't have any qualms in regards to this feature, whether if it's implemented or not. but I still think it's an interesting thing that could be looked at in the future once all the story elements has been laid out.

[Booker42]

i always thought this might be something interesting to add to temporal storms, depending on the severity of the storm could cause various effects. most common for light storms would be things like stone flint and stick generation plus maybe regrowth of the leaf bushes (not the fruit one) this would also help the most common complaint i have seen for multiplayer servers which is not being able to find these items when you join a game that has been going on a while

[LordRaygon007]

@Booker42; That's a good thought, although I feel that the Temporal Storms would cause more rust to appear on various blocks and cause certain items like firewood into aged firewood; which would be separate from the whole generalized weathering system. I'm just curious as to how far do the devs want to go down the rabbit hole of "immersion" and "realism" factors.