Professor Dragon

I actually don't mind grass growing on farmland, because it provides a nice convenient little source of grass and horse-tails while it is being left fallow. Harvest with a stone knife, and punch it - it doesn't take long to clear even a big field , compared to everything else. (I just counted, and I have eight fields around just my current house, from small to large, and it took maybe a day to clear and plant everything in Spring. Then it is just rotational maintenance.) I like idiomcriter's suggestion of improving the hoe weeding ability AND the suggestion of a winter weed suppression crop - although that in itself would need harvesting. Perhaps the scythe technology (cut and grow no more vs cut and regrow) could be improved to permanently weed proof a farm. Or give this second mode feature to the hoe. But as I started out saying, I don't mind the regrow. Have you ever grown a garden? Weeds appear in the blink of an eye, so it is nothing but realistic.

So first of all, yes. If you don't want to burn through pickaxes, then finding any large "gravel" area and picking up loose stones - particularly the boulders - is a reasonable method. You'll exhaust an area of course, but some of those biomes are pretty big. I just happen to be in that process myself now, when I saw your post. Didn't take long (relatively) to get several stacks of paths. You can also collect stone from ruins by punching it with your fist even (slow), or tools. No need to convert stones to blocks. Once you get trading up and running - and a pre-req is probably farming - then rusty gears gets you picks, and then mining is an option. However, picks aren't cheap, so I'd consider the stone to a be a by-product on your way to a main objective - whether that be ore gathering or making a cellar. Last, and this is the tip that saved me when I was in a similar spot, two words: rammed earth. It has six variants in one block, from plain to a passable castle wall texture in a light gray like stone. But it is made from soil, so you can just dig it up anywhere and throw up a house. It is also easy to take down and switch out. Then over time, you swap it out for the materials you prefer. You avoid the burn out from the material gathering. And you'll probably discover things about building and materials, as you're ramping up resources. Professor_Dragon.

Further on the temperature, as I'm in the same boat as OP with my computer cooking itself. See Settings, Graphics for the big culprits. The easy fix is to go to the Quality Preset and try something significantly lower, and observe the results. Then move things up notches. By choosing a lower setting, you'll see what is checked off or lowered by default. Most of the Tool Tips are accurate in their performance hit. Use a tool such as "NZXT CAM" if you don't have a display for temperature, and it will give it to you on screen in real time. https://nzxt.com/en-intl/pages/cam Oh, and for the record, I have more "shiny" things on than my computer should reasonably be expected to handle, because you want to enjoy the game visuals, right? Right? I should be fair to it and knock it down a bit though. Professor Dragon.

I'm into Year 7 on my current world with "Falling Blocks: On" - and I'm wondering why. I've never quite got around to turning it off, but honestly, after every piece of dirt seems like it wants to kill you, I'd be inclined to turn it off. Been there, done that, kind of thing. And the dirt will want to fall on you at every opportunity. Fire and lightning are both off. I live in a storm infested region, and combined with the falling blocks, my long term base was just surrounded by pock-marked moon craters as every hidden cave got eventually revealed by lightning strikes. Also, I don't need my house burning down - and the lightning protectors seem more trouble that they are worth. I'm also having my doubt about monsters and temporal storms. I'm playing through with them, but I'm beginning to feel like just being a glutton for punishment with them. If you want peaceful, you probably at least don't want storms. And the monsters are frankly mostly annoying. I don't know if you want to consider less landcover, with the new ship features. More land means less water for your fancy new sailboat to go on. Professor Dragon.

Is your main concern "making a cellar" or "blocking out all light"? Because they are different. A cellar functions just fine, even above ground in the sky, with a single solid block lining of appropriate material. The sunlight can be blocked with a zig-zag. Having said that, I've had some weird variations where I build the same design in my survival world, that I've just built in my test world, and get different storage rates on storage vessels. Altitude and climate both impact the storage length. You might be interested in this Reddit discussion: And that storage rate that you're getting is in line with my experience for a decent cellar.

Good call. I tried it out with a pine crate, and got an anomalous result, so I switched over to a Creative world and confirmed that Bronze Armlets do indeed stack 16 to an Aged Crate and 20 to a regular Crate. https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Crate So back to my world, and I found that one of the Bronze Armlets has an issue with going into the crates. Don't know why. Tried dropping it and moving it around between places. The crate obviously thinks that it is a "different" item. So, ahem. I made an error earlier. Bronze Armlets do in fact stack higher in Crates, beyond 8. Thank you.

That's a lovely build. Nicely done.

"vintage story would be amazing in vr" "Horrifying." I'm pretty sure that the word that I would use would be "horrifying."

Thank you, LadyWYT, for a thoughtful response to a lengthy post. And with a sufficient suspension of disbelief, low light, and squinting, it is possible for those reasons to be good enough. However, if they're able to hide animals of the size to fit between the stays of those carts without leaving a trace, they're much, much better at survival than I gave them credit for. I stand by my key observation though - there appears to be no way for those wagons to actually move to some of the places that I have seen them. (I wonder if I can book safe passage with one of them? It would certainly be preferable to me stomping about the wild as wolf bait.) Professor Dragon.

This is the one that gets me - Bronze Armlets. It is bad enough that they: Have no use (decoration in one slot, until you get something better maybe) Cannot be stacked Can't be placed onto the ground, shelf or display case (I mean, honestly, why not?) They are the poster child for "junk items" in vintage story. But worse, they can't even be stored effectively. Best I can do is the 36 slots in a trunk. But I can only put 8 into a crate - what's with that? ? ? I thought that a chest would be my salvation with these puppies, but they're not. Why am I holding onto them? I don't know. I guess that I'm hoping that they will be useful one day. Be able to break them down. Perhaps require a bronze chisel, so that you can't cheese the Bronze Age. Stack them to 8 (?). Seems a reasonable number. Stack them in crates to a much bigger number. 512(?) Be able to place them on the ground, shelves or display cases. Potential story item - used as a key for a vault, for example, so that you rue the day you threw every one into the lake and need to pan for "just one more." Thank you, once again, for reading. Professor Dragon.

We meet Traders everywhere in our journeys. But who or what are they? Here are questions for consideration. 1) Why do trader wagons have wheels? Wheels implies movement. Either they have moved in the past, or they plan to move in the future. Or are they merely a decorative feature to remember a by-gone era? I have never seen: Trader wagons move Wheel tracks Roads A source of motive power 2) How did trader wagons get to their current locations? I have spent hundreds of hours traveling these worlds, and have seen trader wagons in inaccessible locations: upon pinnacles, in pits, hemmed in by trees or water. How did they get there? Were they moved there? If so, how? Carriage beasts (type?), engines or some type of Jonas contraption, teleportation? Was the world different when they moved, and then changed locking them to their locations? Were they built in place? If so, why? Why build a wagon with wheels in an inaccessible location? 3) How do traders restock? Traders have regular resupply (weekly or less), during which their buy and sell list changes. Where do these goods come from? Where do they go? I have never seen a delivery or supply, despite being present when the stock list changes. I have never seen a Trader leave his wagon. I have never seen another Trader (or entity) approach a Trader with supplies. I have never seen a Trader wagon move. I have never seen or heard any type of mechanical device, such as a Jonas contraption, which might be teleporting supplies in or out. 4) How do traders survive severe weather? The trader wagons, while appearing comfortable, offer no weather protection to our Seraph at all. It is a mistake to seek shelter from a hurricane in winter in a Trader's wagon. Sure, they will offer you a bed, and yet still watch you freeze. Are their bodies hardened against severe weather? Or are we just that weak by comparison? Do they have gear which is so superior that it protects them? Why don't they have weather proof wagons? Solid shutters, sealable doors? 5) Why and how are traders living in temporally unstable zones? I often wonder why traders are living in temporally unstable zones. It fries our Seraph's noggin, but appears to have no impact on Traders at all. They might not be impacted. (How?) They might have ways of escaping unobserved to a stable zone (Not noted). Are they connected to the Rust World - simply a better mannered, more nicely attired Drifter in effect? Are they monsters beneath? (I may have spent too long in this wilderness.) 6) How are traders still alive? I mean seriously, they live next to wolf spawns, in temporally unstable areas, on top of a gravel desert, while a heavy Temporal Storm rages. Some of the most inhospitable environments imaginable, and yet we have some dude up there whose idea of trading is a box of "violet glass" for a pair of "prince boots." What is he eating here - fancy boot leather? Because none of his trading list touches on practical items. 7) Why aren't mobs hostile to traders? Back to the wolves, bears and drifters - because they seem to have a "live and let live" pact going. Suspicious, if you ask me. 8. Why are they so similar? In years of traveling, across vast distances, I keep encountering traders with the same name selling the same items. They give the same answers to questions, and hold the same beliefs. Are these clones? Robots? Are they are weird gestalt being who exists simultaneously across multiple locations at once? Or merely people with a severely limited gene pool, profession choice and imagination? 9) Why are their wagons so evenly spaced out? I mean, sure, I'm currently living in a broken chunk border location thanks to a game update, and trader existence is similarly broken. But otherwise, the trader wagons show a great tendency for spacing out, rather than grouping up. You'd expect (see earlier points), there to be larger conglomerations of a dozen wagons of all types of trades, or even hundreds. 10) Why don't they have a history? Information on the world? Where is the news? I come across a person living in the remote wilds. What would be more natural than the sharing of news? Having a talk? But no, it's "Throw in those feathers as well, and this shovel is yours." I very much want to hear about these villages that have been mentioned. That seems newsworthy. After all, I've just been dropped into this world of monsters, and I'm told that there is a safe village. That sounds perfect! Give me a snippet! Do you want to hear about this vegetable farm that I have going? It could feed you in plenty - I have spare. No? Odd. Again. S-U-S-P-I-C-I-O-U-S. Where do the questions take us? In short, there are too many mysteries surrounding traders. We don't know what they are, how they got there, or what their agendas are. At first, I thought that they were similar lost souls to us, struggling to survive in a harsh land. Maybe they are just super-tough "humans", with the gear, resources and fortitude to enjoy living out here - as they claim. There is just could be something unnatural to them though. I lie awake thinking about it. In a way, they are more disturbing than the obvious rust world monsters in this broken world . . . Thanks for your consideration. Professor Dragon.

I like this follow-up suggestion! As much as I like using wild vines as "colour changing decoration" inside a house (and a clue to the outside season on window-less rooms), the ability to have a "green room" would be very nice! The obvious candidate would be the greenhouse check. "If greenhouse, then plants keep their summer colour." You could build the traditional sunroom filled with plants off the side of your house. But that rules out house interior decoration, which I'm sure could benefit from potted colour as well. Maybe a variant of the wrench tool, which lets you cycle between the plant "seasons to display." You would still need to have the plant inside a "house" or "glasshouse" condition check, but you could then set the chosen foliage display. Thanks. EDIT: If a new tool like the wrench, it could be called garden "shears".

REQUEST: I would like to place water in my "house", "basement" or "greenhouse" without it picking up wave effects from the outside weather. I, like many of us I assume, place water in these areas for use in smithing, cooking or gardening. The problem is that outside weather wind effects act like there is no protection at all. There are LARGE water movements, in what should be a completely protected environment. The picture below is from within my smithery - a fireproof bunker under my house. It ticks the "house" check as being protected. You can see that the water surges up and down within this 1 x 1 space. It surges from below halfway in the hole to the top. This picture was taken while the outside had a "Storm" (according to the HUD mod). This is Vintage Story 1.20.12 (Windows). There are some mods, like the HUD, but nothing that should impact environment. I know it seems like a small thing, but I notice it frequently. Thanks.

OMG and YASD. I can't believe the timing of this. I've died after three years of playing (on and off with long breaks) on this same world. THREE. YEARS. Sooooo . . . my question has become irrelevant in practice. There I was, going to water my indoor greenhouse and just hands free while I'm explaining how it works - when some family member (Who will remain nameless - forever. Treachery made manifest.) thought it would be a good idea to reach down to the mouse, and click the door to the greenhouse open, while there were monsters outside. I wasn't in my armor - that was upstairs. I was just watering crops and saving on hunger decline. I wasn't playing in full screen. I was just watering crops and not in a combat ready mode. I switched to my weapon and got a few hits in, when suddenly other applications are opening up - I'd inadvertently clicked out of the window onto the Taskbar. So, that part was my fault. User error. By the time I regained control of Vintage Story, it was too late. Killed. Aaaaaand the question about my respawn was answered. I respawned the better part of 10,000 blocks away, in a direction away from any area I'd explored recently. I crumpled. THREE YEARS of nursing this character through this world and playing it safe - to die like this. I capitulated. I caved in . . . I set the game mode to "Creative" and teleported back to my base. I've changed my options to have "Keep Inventory" ON. I'm strongly considering changing my death range from 10,000 down to something more manageable like 500. EDIT: I have changed. My respawn appears to have been located from my original spawn location, so bright side, at least practically I know the answer to the question in this post. Even if I didn't get a command for it. <Sigh> Thank you for reading, if you made it this far.

After I created my main world, I created a base pretty close to where I spawned in. Since then, I have journeyed south some way, establishing bases along the way. I, regrettably, respawned a few times (after foolhardedly thinking I was up for a "deathless" run) in some forgettable locations. I can NOT remember if I have ever used a Temporal Gear to set a new respawn location. QUESTION Is there a command which will show where I will respawn if I die? If my respawn location is going to be "close" to my original main base world spawn point, then I wish to leave it at that. However, if my respawn location is in some forgotten base/location, then I will reset my spawn with a temporal gear to my current location. My world settings are as follows: My original main base is at 2458, 1, 3183 according to the map co-ordinates. My current location is at 3676, 1, 30476. Hmmm . . . looking at my co-ordinates, it looks like I wouldn't be put anywhere near anywhere useful potentially, given the large respawn radius. I could narrow that down I suppose. I am trying to be "good" and do a "clear run" from here on out, but I've been playing this world for three years and a death now would be an inconvenience. I see the command "/serverconfig defaultspawn [x y? z]" but don't wish to accidentally reset my spawn instead of viewing it. (EDIT. Tried "/serverconfig defaultspawn" on a test world and it then asked for a "subcommand", so I'm missing something if I want a "display only".) Thanks.

That's a great suggestion - thanks!

I've built a base in an area with frequent thunderstorms - which is fine. However, I noticed that I still see the "lightning flash" even when enclosed in stone in my "Cellar." I'm okay with the thunderclap, but unless the Rust World has truly made light physics gone wonky (can't rule out something like that for lore reasons), there shouldn't be a visible lightning flash in that location. (Or unless "solid" trapdoors aren't perfectly light proof.) My cellar is enclosed fully in stone, apart from a solid birch trapdoor leading down to it. It meets the cellar conditions and gives maximum shelf life to storage containers. There is a single level house with windows above the trapdoor location. REQUEST - No lightning flash if underground in a room sealed by a single solid trapdoor/door. On the current version which is 1.20.11. It's not really a biggie, just thought I'd mention it. EDIT: Oh, no mods that should impact this - just a map editor and one which shows block light levels when enabled. Can remove and check again - is there a way to force a lightning bolt? Thanks

I didn't think of that. I'm in a peat rich area, where it also rains a lot, and I've had enough time to sit in my cabin and think "Aren't those lightning strikes pretty?" Never occurred to me that the whole area could go up! I have used some peat to get through a winter, but I'm trying to be sustainable and NOT use it, as trees are a renewable resource. I like to think I'm leaving the peat biome intact for the little creatures. (Yes, I know - video game, not the real world.)

Oh my goodness. Three years later, and I had exactly the same question . . . after coming back to this same base in summertime. I searched the Forum and found this. "What a great Q&A" I thought - "I'll upvote that for answering my question." . . . only then did I realise that I was the original poster.

All good - that's what forums are for! Other people will have a similar experience, and see the responses and be helped. Or chip in their own similar experiences.

Hi Jack. Also note that there is a German section of this Forum here: https://www.vintagestory.at/forums/forum/29-vintarian-support-deutsch/

Please "Create a Backup" of your Vintage Story world, before running the update to 1.17.2 In general, this piece of advice applies to any software update (Not just Vintage Story, nor this version) - you should always have a backup of data before a change. I'm not highlighting any particular problem with this update. It should work fine. However, this is just what could be thought of as "good practice": What if something happens that shouldn't? What if you don't like one of the changes? How can I revert to what I was just on? So I thought I'd just put this post into this "Questions" thread, even though it might fall into "Discussions" better - just because this might be where people look prior to an upgrade. How to take a Backup of your World 1) From the main game menu, click on the Edit "pencil" icon to the right of your world. 2) Choose the "Create a backup" of your Vintage Story world. Note: Do NOT use "Save" for this process, use "backup." I believe that while I think that the file created is technically identical with either method, the key difference is that the Backup is shunted out to its own folder, keeping it "safe." The "Save" will be overwritten the next time you play Vintage Story. Note the "Filename on disk." This is what will be created. 3) "Confirm" that you want to create the backup. 4) Check that you have the "Ok, backup created" message at the bottom of the screen, that indicates a successful backup. NOTE: There is no "progress bar" to indicate that a backup is occurring. So if your world is big and/or system slow, nothing will appear to be happening for a minute. This is normal. 5) There should now be a vcdbs file with that name in your Users folder (if using defaults). Note. This is a different location to your "Saves" folder, which is typically (on Windows) under your User name folder at \AppData\Roaming\VintagestoryData\Saves. 6) Now, put this backup file somewhere safe. On a removable drive, left at a relatives house, or to the cloud, or however you like to protect your data. No, really. We've all done it. We've all lost data. Don't be that person. Not again. Recovering from a Backup or Save File I believe that the process is as simple as: 1) Have the right version of Vintage Story installed as the Save file. For example, if your Save File is v1.16.5, then you'll need to be a v1.16.5 version of Vintage Story, not 1.17. See below for running multiple copies of Vintage Story if this is not the case. 2) Place the Save/Backup file in the "Saves" folder and restart Vintage Story. Typically (on Windows) under your User name folder at \AppData\Roaming\VintagestoryData\Saves. https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Vintagestory_folder Running Multiple Versions of Vintage Story If you've moved to v1.17 (for example) and want to move back to v1.16.5, then you've got two options: 1) Uninstall the last version, and reinstall the older version. 2) Run two copies of Vintage Story. This is not the main focus of this post, so I'll just put out some links to people who've covered this before. Or for those are visual learners: I hope that helps. Professor Dragon. EDIT - 5th Sep 2022 Mod. files and the rest of the installation Please note that the above instructions are for saving your * * * data * * *. That is, your world, and everything in it. It assumes that you can download whatever else you need (Vintage Story install files, Mods and so on). If you want to make a backup of Mods, then you will need to backup your Mods. folder: %appdata%/VintagestoryData/Mods https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Adding_mods You can, of course, always download Mods again later, but sometimes it helps to have a complete backup. People managing a multi-player server should see here: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Adding_mods And if you want to backup ALL of Vintage Story, that is something else again. This post is not really geared towards telling you how to do that, but at a minimum two key places to check out are: 1) Your game folder. This will be the folder level that has "Vintagestory.exe" and all related files and folders from that level down. 2) The %appdata%/VintagestoryData/ folder and all related files and folders from that level down. However, there are also Registry entries created, which is why I really don't want to get into this, in this post. To stick to the key point - back up your world data as in the main post, and you'll be fine. Most other things can be recovered from other sources.

I'm guessing that you didn't take a "Save" before upgrading? Because that would be simplest. Have a 1.16.5 install and load your Save. If you haven't . . . I'm not sure that there is a way to undo that. Professor Dragon.

There are so many great things in this update. I couldn't even begin to list the ones I liked, there are that many! Things that I knew I wanted, and things I weren't expecting. WOW!

Does the Settings, Sound, "New seraph voices" work for you? (I think there is a Command for this as well?) Professor Dragon