translocator issues

[SoulSand]

Hello! So I built the translocator from the scematic and I can use it (it has worked both ways before). However, when I go through to get something and then want to go back, it doesn't work. Is there a cool down until I can use it again? I once waited like 20 in-game days and it still didn't work to go back through though.
This way I always have to travel very far one way and can only skip the travel back. The guy that gave me the schematic says it saves me the long way back to him so I feel like it should work?
Can anyone explain what is going?

Many thanks!

[williams_482]

There is a cooldown for the rickety translocator, but 1) this isn't documented in-game anywhere and thus I thought the thing not working was just a bug, and 2) that cooldown is forgotten when you exit a world and then load it agin. 

All in all I found the rickety translocator to be a bit of a mess, and wound up cheating in a teleport block next to it that did more reliably what the rickety translocator supposedly should have. 

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, williams_482 said:

There is a cooldown for the rickety translocator, but 1) this isn't documented in-game anywhere and thus I thought the thing not working was just a bug

The dear old friend that gives you the schematic does mention the cooldown, however, you are correct that the rickety translocator is still a bit buggy. Or at least, it was when I last toyed with it. Though in my case, the issue was related to getting my end of the teleporter to actually work--it would spin up but wouldn't actually teleport, and I had to use console commands to travel to the "other side" and use it from that end to get it working. 

 

On 6/13/2026 at 3:09 PM, SoulSand said:

This way I always have to travel very far one way and can only skip the travel back. The guy that gave me the schematic says it saves me the long way back to him so I feel like it should work?

In any case, welcome to the forums! Unfortunately I'm not exactly sure what the issue is here, aside from a bug. To my knowledge, the way the rickety translocator is supposed to work, is that you should be able to teleport to the guy's residence and then teleport back to your base before the cooldown kicks in. I suppose it's possible that the trip could be one-way before the cooldown goes into effect though, given that the village is supposed to have a room at the inn you can rent. However, room rental hasn't been added to the game yet, so if that is the intended design and not a bug then it's a mechanic that's going to feel very clunky until there's room rental and more stuff to do around that area.