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

> Yeah, mainly just worried about not having progressed enough since its now early winter. Progression is a state of mind and depends what you're after. Providing you've got (a) enough food not to die and (b) something to do to keep you busy over winter, you should be fine. Having enough food to survive two or three days without going out to forage, and enough warm clothing so that you can go out, should probably be a priority. A copper saw is definitely a gateway tool. Solid choice. > Also should I aim for wooden or copper lamellar if you have to dig down to find tin? Ideally, you shouldn't encounter anything, if you mine cautiously (Temporal Calm period, daytime, well lit, dig your own spot rather than go into a cave). So armour doesn't matter. The armour is for when things aren't ideal. And that really depends on your play style. But ANY armour in the beginning will probably be "good enough." The real trick is not to overextend. If your choice is just between wood and copper lamellar armour, then at the beginning, probably wood is good enough and your copper is best used for other things (lantern, pick, propick, hammer). Even improvised body armour will do in a pinch, and is cheap as. https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php/Lamellar_armor Once you get a flax farm up, then Gambeson is a solid early choice. You could always make constructing a greenhouse a winter project, to give your flax a head start. Professor Dragon.

Prospecting - Wiki page: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Mining&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop#Prospecting_.28Systematic_Method.29 Prospecting - a good tutorial on the web: > even after playing for days, almost a week now You'll need a lot more in-game time, especially if you're just starting out. Prospecting and Mining are mid to late game activities. It takes a while to get the "pre-requisites for mining": Pick/s Hammer Armour & weapons Light sources Food Ladders and/or rope ladders Backpacks and storage And then the resources to make use of the metals you've found. For reference, I've been taking things "cautiously" and I'm 250 hours into a game play, and haven't yet mined enough materials to get beyond the Copper Age. I'm extremely slow and cautious, but the point is - as Maelstrom and Streetwind have said - is that Prospecting and Mining are specific skills that need time to learn, and resources to exploit. In my view, in Vintage Story you are NOT going to just "learn prospecting and mining by playing the game." No matter how closely you think you've studied the Survival Handbook. This is why I've linked the Wiki and video above. They will save you hours or days of frustration. (I think there should be a "tutorial" built into the game, where you can hire a grizzled old NPC miner who talks you through the process. But that's by the by.) Professor Dragon.

That is some high quality work. I'm entranced!

First time I've come into the "Builds" forum thread. WOW! Beyond amazing. Well done!

Just to add to the correct answers above. There is no "cheat flag," as there is in Minecraft. There is no distinction between "This is a normal, valid command for general game use, but these commands are cheats." You can switch between options via command mode all day long, and not trigger any type of game penalty. In fact, you will be a rare type of Vintage Story player if at some point, you do not use the command line. As much as you may want to play the game "straight", there really are times when if it is not just necessary, it is just downright sensible. Finally, as Streetwind and others have said, using both forms of the Propick are pretty much essential. Long-term, you need to have them on.

I think the latest Unstable Patch has got you covered: "Tweak: Initial world spawn location is now seed deterministic"

The latter, most likely. Probably your Temporal Stability dropped far enough that you entered the "Rust World." Which basically looks like a never ending Temporal Storm, even though the Temporal Storm HAS ended. Your Temporal Gear will keep on spinning left. Honestly, the game could do with a chat message "You have entered the Rust World" - because this transition really isn't as clear as it should be. See https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php/Temporal_stability The only way to get out of it is to restore your Temporal Stability - by activating a Temporal Gear or killing enough Drifters. Here are pitfalls to avoid: * Do not be in a Temporally unstable zone during a Temporal Storm. Corollary 1 - Do not build your base in an unstable zone. Corollary 2 - Do not shelter in a trader's caravan during a temporal storm, in an unstable zone or if your stability is already low. * Especially do not be in an unstable zone during a storm. Almost certain death awaits. Run through the night if you have to, to get to a stable zone. Then hide in hole/bunker/whatever. * Always keep one Temporal Gear and a knife in a chest in your base, so that you can exit the Rust World if needed. If you just need to break THIS loop, then go into Creative mode (/gamemode Creative), give yourself a Temporal Gear or two and a knife, use them, then revert to Surival once the Rust World ends (/gamemode Survival). Hope this helps. Professor Dragon.

I doubt it. I think delete means delete in this case. And that the world seed isn't saved anywhere else. On the upside, nice worlds are actually pretty common, I think. Just start a new world - I don't think it is a big deal. If you don't like where you spawn, switch to Creative (/gamemode creative), fly around a bit and then switch back (/gamemode Survival). If you wanted to poke around, look at the Logs under \AppData\Roaming\VintagestoryData\Logs. (I didn't see anything obvious, but I spent all of a minute looking only.) Saves is at the same level - but is probably missing your world.

I won't pretend to understand what's happening. But I'll give you some words anyway. I opened up a test world (v1.16.5 Stable), and teleported far north, until there was "glacial ice" and -15 C below. Putting in a cutting still gives the "Establishing tree cutting" hover text. Even though you can bet that will die. So there is a time period between when a cutting is "Establishing" and either "dead" or growing. I then started out in a more pleasant climate, and spammed down a goodly number of Pink Lady cuttings in Spring. Then I fast forwarded time with the command "/time speed 9999" which gives a rate of a full game day in a fraction of a minute. After Summer ended and nothing really happened, I got a bit worried, so I also placed down pear tree cuttings as well. Finally, in Spring a year later, the end result after a year was only two out of the 8 - 10 (Sorry - I didn't count accurately.) Pink Lady Apple cuttings started to grow. Another 2 - 3 Pink Lady cuttings died. And everything else was still "Establishing." I'm really not sure about that tree right at the back. I think that I planted it, but there is a small chance that it was already there before I started my test. (I doubt it, but it wasn't a very controlled test!) What is interesting about it though is that it is flagged as "dormant" and only has leaves on one side at the moment. Back in the prior summer it was fully covered. I'm pretty sure that only "trees" enter "dormancy." That is, cuttings are either, Establishing or Dead. (I think the text below that in the above image about "Can be planted or grafted" is highly optimistic at this point.) You don't have a "dormant cutting." BREAKING THIS ALL DOWN - WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU? * Yes, fruit trees do grow from cuttings on v1.16.5 (Stable) when planted onto Medium soil in an appropriate climate. * The growth rate chance within a year is low. (Tool tip says 40%.) I wasn't accurate with my counting in the test above, and it was a really small sample size, but I didn't crack 30%. But it is conceivable - although unlikely - that you were just unlucky. * Copy your world, turn on Creative and move time forward if you want to see what happens. * I'm not sure of the climate that you're in, nor if there could be any "anomalies" where your base is, so I suggest two tests: A) Journey somewhere temperate well away from your base, and try again. (Switch to Creative to fly or teleport if need be.) B) Plant down a large number of different types of trees from the Creative inventory. Maybe you'll find that some just won't grow, because it is too hot or cold. Maybe you'll find a bug, where a particular type of tree just does not grow at all. Who knows? But a bit of testing should at least flag "Yes, this will grow here." And then once (hopefully) you have positive results, you can again use Creative if that feels too cheaty, wipe out the test trees, and continue with your build again. Here's the general wiki link: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Fruit_tree Hope that helps. If you get results, let me know.