Spoilage Protection for Co-op Multiplayer?

[DeanF]

Obviously this should be a switch that is only available to the admins of multiplayer servers, not a default.

The Problem:
If I understand this correctly, on multiplayer servers, when a player is not on the server while another one is, time passes, and the absent player's perishable food stores can spoil and rot. I imagine that it really sucks to get back on the server when you haven't had time in a while only to find all of your food spoiled because someone had been playing while everyone else was offline.  Yes, you can be careful to load all of your food stores into your personal inventory before you log off, but this is a rather awkward work-around.

My Solution?:
Let us optionally assign owners to storage containers.  When that owner is not on the server two things should happen:

1. Time should not pass for the contents of the containers when the owner is not on the server, so items would not spoil.
2. Other players should not be able to access that container's contents (to prevent exploits).

Discussion:
Yes, I know that there will be competitive multiplayer servers, but I suspect that most servers are cooperative and run buy a group of friends.  Ours is, frex.  We've got a little village going on.  And it turns out that the one guy in our group who never gets to play the games that he prefers loves Vintage Story, and everyone is happy. 

So this functionality is for the cooperative players.  But on a competitive server it could be left off so that players could raid one another.

I do feel like such functionality should only apply to things that are meant specifically to hold food, like the clay storage containers.  Not chests, etc.  In fact, possibly only the clay storage containers.  If you want to preserve a crock, put it in a storage container.  Since I haven't progressed very far in the game, are there any later-game containers that are food-specific?

Edited Thursday at 10:44 PM by DeanF

[Byrnorthil]

There is an existing claims system which is even used in singleplayer by traders. Perhaps your idea could be integrated into that.

[DeanF]

9 hours ago, Byrnorthil said:

There is an existing claims system which is even used in singleplayer by traders. Perhaps your idea could be integrated into that.

But does it stop spoilage?  I had assumed not.

But I'm new, so I might be seeing a problem where none exists.

Edited Friday at 02:38 PM by DeanF

[LadyWYT]

15 minutes ago, DeanF said:

But I'm new, so I might be seeing a problem where none exists.

No, spoilage timers are definitely a concern in multiplayer, and one reason problems can arise if the server isn't entirely co-op and some players aren't playing as frequently as others. Large servers tend to have the most problems, I think, since there's almost always someone online so time is constantly passing.

In any case though, there's at least a couple of mods that have tried to address this. I don't know how well they work, but you might give them a shot.

https://mods.vintagestory.at/noofflinecontainerfoodspoil

https://mods.vintagestory.at/offlinefoodnospoil

[Demoncyborg]

the main solution in a totally vanilla server is using salt to make a supply of foods that can last for years at a time, like cheese and cured meat. a nice cold cellar and your clay storage vessels offer the best reduction in spoilage time you can get right now

the solution i'd suggest here for you, and your friends playstyles, is finding a mod or playing with the server config for spoilage times. a few cool mods that i can think of are things like GlooMeClasses, which have a chef class that can make a powerful sealing item on special crocks that can make food last for years, or similarly, a canned goods mod that lets you use traditional canning techniques to preserve foods! the big popular cooking mod offers a lot of extra ways to preserve food specifically as well. ladyWYT suggested some great spoil time mods just now also, if all you'd like is for it to stay fresh while you're gone.

i feel like your suggestion would still have to require some kind of upkeep to be balanced within the main play of the game. what's the point of making a cellar if you can just log off and none of the meat in your personal storage vessel will rot? you don't get a whole lot for free in this game without working for it, so perhaps a late-game device powered by rare or hard to get items might be more balanced.

[LadyWYT]

18 hours ago, DeanF said:

Other players should not be able to access that container's contents (to prevent exploits).

As far as I'm aware, this already how claims work--the player can set permissions of who can interact with stuff in their claim, with admins ignoring all restrictions for obvious reasons. I'm not sure there's any getting around this kind of exploit, though I'm also not sure it's really necessary to fix either. Putting stuff in an offline player's chests as a cheap "cellar" doesn't really do much since the active player could just...grow more food and store it in their own cellar, as well as just store stuff in their own containers and not worry about it going bad when they log out. The only real way to exploit it, that I see, is creating a dummy account to make the claim and then sharing permissions with friends, but most people probably aren't going to do that.