Professor Dragon

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

3 hours ago, FairyAngel said:

Thanks for the help.

Yeah, mainly just worried about not having progressed enough since its now early winter. Any landscapes I could maybe set-up in to grow things for the time being until I progress to bronze? Currently it seems like I had to just use the copper I got to make a saw and get myself a wooden door, chests etc because my reed baskets were getting full to the brim.

Also should I aim for wooden or copper lamellar if you have to dig down to find tin?

> 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!

On 8/28/2022 at 3:07 PM, Green said:

Hello, I was thinking about enabling Node Search Mode for my Prospecting Pick on my world, but then I saw that I would need to add a command to my world or change it on the World Configs. Can this be considered a form of cheating?

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.

On 8/28/2022 at 7:29 AM, assassin_chad_23 said:

just an fyi not sure if it has changed but the spawn on a seed is not always the same.  i have tried a few good seeds in the past only to not be close to where i was the first time through. But that may be because i messed up?

I think the latest Unstable Patch has got you covered:

"Tweak: Initial world spawn location is now seed deterministic"

 

 

14 hours ago, Timothy Simmons said:

OK I've got a few hours in the game and purchased a server.

The temporal storms last a long time. I've tried staying in my house but the storm last long enough to drive me insane and I just die over and over. the storm never ends.

This isn't from damage from the creatures, I've killed all that appeared.

Do I have a bug or have done something wrong?

 

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.

 

On 8/25/2022 at 11:50 PM, Mikel Monleón said:

Shouldn't it tell me its dead if the climate didn't permit it to grow? 

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.

I'm guessing with the command line in game? ? ?

Try seeing if you can get some clues from this post, and the one from Tyron directly below it:

 

Edit.

That variable was added here:

"API Updates

• Feature: Added field RuntimeEnv.DebugOutOfRangeBlockAccess to debug world generation issues"

The API documentation is at the bottom of the page here:

https://www.vintagestory.at/features/modding.html/

 

5 minutes ago, Mikel Monleón said:

I saw a post that said something similar to that. So I stuck around for 8 in game days near all the trees. Just to test that out. Nothing.

I played for about half a year in 1.16.5, and now i've updated to 1.17.0rc5 with still no luck. Is it just broken? Is anyone able to grow fruit trees?

I edited a reply in, just before you posted this.

But yes, on 1.16.5 I have some pear tree cuttings that are growing into leafy trees.

 

Maybe go into creative, fly somewhere far off, and see if a different climate lets you grow them.

The update that Ogi Teh yeti is referring to is:

Specifically:

"1.16.5-rc.1 Game updates

• Fixed: Should fix some fruit trees never fruiting"

Note that this is an "unstable release."

That means, you will NOT be on it by default. You will have the version with this fault.

The last stable release is 1.16.5.

V1.17 unstable release also includes more fruit tree fixes, so  you may wish to wait until that becomes stable, and then load that.

 

That being said, you may not be facing the above issues, so as Ogi Teh yeti recommended, try hanging around your base.

If you hover your mouse over the stick, is it alive or dead?

And some trees have temperature requirements.

For what it is worth, I have YET TO SEE a fruiting tree. Trees in blossom, yes. A fruiting tree? No.

My cuttings HAVE GROWN though.

 

Professor Dragon.

Another way is to fill it with a meal.

This replaces the water (Don't ask me why).

Then eat the meal and you'll have an empty bowl back.

 

I would like to see this type of information ("To empty a bowl . . .") in the Survival Handbook, against the relevant item.

This question might be better off in this forum area:  https://www.vintagestory.at/forums/forum/15-vintarian-support/

 

I don't know about your issue specifically, but I'll make this observation.

I have two computers that I play Vintage Story on. One "really good" and one "average."

However, the average one always performed with Vintage Story really well. The "really good" one had really long load and shut down times.

I bought new (and more) memory for my "really good" computer and suddenly all of my issues were solved. The loading time was snappier than my other computer, with no other change.

Long story short: replacement memory worked for me.

England had greenhouses heated by the warmth from decomposing compost to grow all of the wonderful tropical plants that explorer botanists were bringing back from the tropics.

Palm trees thriving in a frozen winter!

 

So yes, compost has been used as a heat source for greenhouses for a long time - and we have compost and greenhouses in VS.

 

I have NOT tried simply having a fire going. Has anyone actually done this? Maybe in Creative Mode? Does it have a bearing? Or is it only the outside temperature +5 degrees that matters?

Anyway, a fire is simply too expensive to maintain as a heat source in this game.

 

Big picture, I would like to see more heating options for greenhouses. If we have the technology to build a glass house, we have the technology to heat it.

 

 

 

 

 

No, you're not missing anything.

Maybe they're left out because they give away Lore? (Don't know).

In any case, they're not directly on the Creative menu tabs.

As you suspected, the closest that you have in the Creative menu tabs is to spawn in a merchant under the "Creatures" tab and then trade with them.

Use a command to move forward three days to refill their shop:

https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=List_of_server_commands/time

 

You might be able to use the Give Item command, if you knew how to describe it:

https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=List_of_server_commands#.2Fgiveitem

List of Tapestry names here: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Tapestry

 

Tapestry classes are here:

https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Modding:Block_Entity_Classes&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop

string[][] tapestryGroups = new string[][]

{

new string[] { "rot1" },

new string[] { "rot2" },

new string[] { "rot3" },

new string[] { "holy1", "schematic-c1", "schematic-c-bloody1", "forlorn1" },

new string[] { "holy2", "schematic-c2", "schematic-c-bloody2", "forlorn2" },

new string[] { "salvation11", "schematic-a11", "schematic-b11", "schematic-d11", "rotbeast11", "blackguard11" },

new string[] { "salvation12", "schematic-a12", "schematic-b12", "schematic-d12", "rotbeast12", "blackguard12" },

new string[] { "salvation21", "schematic-a21", "schematic-b21", "schematic-d21", "rotbeast21", "blackguard21" },

new string[] { "salvation22", "schematic-a22", "schematic-b22", "schematic-d22", "rotbeast22", "blackguard22" },

};

2 hours ago, Joshua Langdon said:

I just baked a pie and put it on a table. Won't let me pick it up now unless I cut it. Broke the table and it just stuck to the block below it. Any suggestions?

This is normal behaviour. (AKA "This isn't Minecraft.")

https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Cooking#Pies

"The finished pie must be placed back down on a table, where it can be cut with a knife into four pieces."

 

On 8/4/2022 at 4:12 AM, Tyron said:

Tweak: Can now interact with firepits while having a torch or pot in hands

So much good stuff. The above is something I've been hoping for though. Yay!

18 hours ago, BenLi said:

What is missing so far:

Add:

4) "Taming" chance with each generation, like sheep.

I don't want my pet rabbit going nuts each time I approach. I want a calm happy bunny flop-earing around a pen.