What to do with my main world? Old, large.

[Professor Dragon]

Hello Everyone,

AIM
I'm after suggestions on how to handle my main world from here on out.
My save file has got large. Compressing the world does not seem to work well.

BACKGROUND
I begun the world on 1.16, and it is now on the current 1.21.5 version.

The file size was around 3+ GB, but then I did the two story missions which required over 120,000 blocks of straight line travel there and back - and probably a lot more, because the routes were not straight. So by the time I completed the story missions my save file had blown out to 10+ GB.

This makes everything take a little longer, such as backups.

No problem, I thought I'd try compressing the world to save space. As good as it was doing epic long trips (it took nearly a full year there and back), realistically I'm not going to need most of those chunks anyway. They are just Too Far Out to practically visit, with nothing of interest in most.

However, compressing did NOT go well for the world. After running these commands, my entire world was filled with jagged chunk borders. I regard it as not worth playing in this state.
/db prune 16 drop confirm
/db vacuum

The file size did drop back to 5GB though. Honestly, I was expecting to be closer to 3GB.

 

I had a guess that maybe it was because I have soil instability on - although I didn't think that counted - but went whole hog and tried:
/db prune 0 drop confirm

However, this was no better. 

CHOICES/SUGGESTIONS WANTED

At this point here, I see these choices and I'm after input. 
If you have any other ideas or comments, please feel free.

1) Do nothing. 
Continue to play on this world, which apart from the file size is otherwise okay.
The Story locations are currently ludicrously far away from main base.
This is a function of them generating based off world spawn location, rather than the location you speak to the Treasure Hunter - which I think would make more sense.
Even with the Tobin's Cave teleport, I would probably realistically set up with Creative Mode or Mods some translocators between the key story locations and my main base.

Pros:
Get to play on my familar world, with familar routes.
Cons:
Large file size
Already existing chunk issues from 1.16 > 1.18 > 1.21 upgrades. These are "livable" but not ideal.
I'm could do with a change from living in a bauxite biome. 

2) Copy main structures to a new world.
I'm not exactly sure on the procedure to export and import large builds. So I'd need a guide on that. EDIT: Probably something like this.
But this would give me a "clean slate" while preserving the 1,000 hours of play time that I have on this world.
I really only have one big main base that I'd be keen on preserving - it's only a few hundred blocks square and is built on pretty flat terrain.
There are a lot of outlying settlements and farms, but I'd accept those losses if needed.

Pros:
Clean slate - no chunk issues! 
Small world size again
Could have the Story locations closer to my main base.
No Fewer weird Prospecting issues from old/new cross-chunk interactions.
I could try out some of those fancy ocean settings - haven't found one yet, but I'm on very old defaults.

3) Try again with different db prune or other options
Cons:
Not really sure this would work any better.
It took several hours to implement on the original 10GB file.

4) Other?

I'm in no rush on this, and will keep playing on the original main world in the meantime.
But it's time I had a think about this.

Thanks, Professor Dragon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2025 by Professor Dragon

[LadyWYT]

2 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

2) Copy main structures to a new world.
I'm not exactly sure on the procedure to export and import large builds. So I'd need a guide on that. EDIT: Probably something like this.
But this would give me a "clean slate" while preserving the 1,000 hours of play time that I have on this world.
I really only have one big main base that I'd be keen on preserving - it's only a few hundred blocks square and is built on pretty flat terrain.
There are a lot of outlying settlements and farms, but I'd accept those losses if needed.

This would be my vote, given the trader rework that is coming and whatnot. However, this also depends partly on how attached you are to the structures in your current world. I won't say it's easy to let go of a world you have so much history in, however, I would only worry about copying over structures if they are things you just can't live without. Otherwise, a new world offers a fresh slate to start anew, with plenty of space and resources to make even more memories, and screenshots can help preserve the memory of the old.

[Professor Dragon]

Thanks @LadyWYT

The more I think about it, the more this seems the way to go.
I guess I was after a bit of reassurance.

I'll always have the old world if I want to go back into it again.

I'll take my main base, as that is still an active work in progress.

But otherwise, it will be nice to have new unbroken terrain, new traders when they come, somewhere to use my sailboats other than on a duck pond (Actually, why don't we have ducks? We need ducks) and so on.

Right! Time to learn a new Vintage Story skill. I flubbed WorldEdit last time I made an attempt, so time to get into it.

Professor Dragon.

[LadyWYT]

35 minutes ago, Professor Dragon said:

Actually, why don't we have ducks? We need ducks

I imagine we'll get them once Tyron figures out how to implement flying birds. Otherwise, they aren't much more than a reskinned chicken.