PC Do torches generate heat to draw screamers

I love programming bugs lol. SO back and forth. SOmeone here just said they used a ton of torches outside and it worked -- I'll check your vdeo out here soon, but if you did yours indoors it may be a subsitute test to check out outdoor usage too
Yup, means I'll have to experiment as well. Now I'm curious of the behavior differences in how you set up the torches, as lighting, or as a honeypot.

 
It may or may not be relevant but in A17 B208 when I was using burning barrels to do some screamer farming I placed them all inside a POI (church) in Navezgane. To minimize the blinding light I covered the barrels with a layer of upgraded wood frames. However no heat was being generated for a few minutes after. Confused I destroyed the wood blocks and heat generation began as expected.

So indoor/outdoor and or block placement/proximity might cause issues with heat generating items.

(It didn't interest me at the time and I assumed it was a one-off so I didn't try and recreate. Can do so depending on how this thread develops.)

 
Yeah just did a quick test and both torches alone and burning barrels progress heat. Possibly at a slower rate.

Brand new game created in B221 Navezgane. Single pole of wood blocks with 12 torches spaced at every other level so they're not stacked on each other. Other tests were done 5-6 chunks apart to prevent any false positives.

Took about 15 minutes after placing them before I saw the advancement on the DM heat hud % for both barrels and torches. Two ticks in 30 minutes and heat spread out to the nearby chunks as well which might have some of the delay.

Did a test with the campfire and it functioned as expected. 1.50% heat in the first tick and if left burning increased.

One other odd thing I noted was that in the prior version jumping from height and 'grunting' was generating 0.05 heat but it is not any longer.

 
Just to confirm reran the same test, torches only, doubled the number of torches as this time there was no spaces between them as they wrapped around the pillar. 15 minutes before the heat ticked. And sadly turning the time speed up in Debug Mode had no effect on that :(

Was hoping to save myself the wait but no dice.

 
Today's video was an A17 test and I didn't get any different results. That's how I ended up here :) Someone showed me some screenshots (Finally) showing a different result than what I had gotten, so it could be bugged.
Here are two more Capp00.

In A16 and A17, 28 torches after about 16 minutes IRL bring the heat map up about 12.5%. Day 1 new maps in each. No other activity apart from building the 7 block pole and putting up the 28 torches.

16.5

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1591383562

17

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1591407507

 
If you want to recreate this more quickly modify the "wallTorchLightPlayer" entry;

<property name="HeatMapFrequency" value="15"/>

To something lower. Setting it to one was quite hilarious with the 28 torches running. It peaked over 100 and flipped over like twice in a few minutes.

 
Only chiming in because this is a test I was asked to test and got very different results, and was linked this thread as proof I was incorrect in my test results. Here is a screenshot to go along with today's test video. I tested this in Alpha 16 and got the same results as well.View attachment 26310

I crafted 10 torches from scratch, opened the debug menu and F8 to bring the heatmap up, built a small tower, placed all 10 torches on the small tower and then sat there and watched it. The heat map never left 0.00%, no matter how long I sat there. Never saw anything spawn in.

Even used the "LE" command while sitting there for several in-game hours, waiting to see if anything appeared. Nothing there.

So if I am wrong, I cannot scientifically prove otherwise in my own game worlds. And I did read all of that in the XML files before even trying to test it in today's video. :)



Here are two more Capp00.In A16 and A17, 28 torches after about 16 minutes IRL bring the heat map up about 12.5%. Day 1 new maps in each. No other activity apart from building the 7 block pole and putting up the 28 torches.

16.5

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1591383562

17

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1591407507

Yeah there's definitely something buggy about it in A17.

I tried to find the video [with no luck] of someone showing their heat map with only 3 torches.

They were generating so much heat that Screamers were showing up almost non stop.

So.......

ycJWVNz.gif


 
Nothing buggy about it in either A16 or A17 from what I have tested. You just need to be willing to wait a long time IRL for the heat map to update or change the blocks.xml "HeatMapFrequency" value for the torches down to 1 so you don't have to.

I'd be curious to see if someone can validate my own tests. 7 block high pole with a torch on each side all the way up to a total of 28.

Wait 16 minutes IRL on a standard 60 minute day setting game in either version. The heat map will stay at 0% until finally it updates after the 16 minutes and shows 12.5%. If you change the "HeatMapFrequency" setting to 1 you will get your endless screamer waves.

 
There you go. The above was recorded with the heatmapfrequency set to 1 to allow the heat map to update in something more like real-time.

So the question is not if they generate heat but how many could one chunk support with the default heatmapfrequency value before you start to see gradual heat increases over time.

I can say for sure its less than 28 as 12.% was generated every 16 minutes which is approximately every 5 in game hours. Which would be a screamer every 40 in game hours based on torches alone.

 
lol I feel stupid; From the wiki

"In the file blocks.xml, the frequency is defined as a number of ticks. Each tick is approximately a .75 to 1 minute real-time interval."

My own testing has it much closer to a 1 minute real time interval than a .75, but perhaps there are some other factors that might adjust that.

If .75 then the update would occur between 15-20 minutes real time.

 
I don't think this has ever been working correctly. I am a torch fan. All my bases are walled with torches (about 12 to 15), are interior lit with them (another 4 to 6) and the area around the base has a further 30 to 40 of them scattered about so I can see further than the base. I love torchlight in the game at night. This typically gives 1 to 2 Screamers per day.

But if I run a few Forges, that figure hits a dozen a day easily.

Of course those 60+ Torches I run are probably scattered over at least 3x3 = 9 chunks, while my Forges are all together probably in a single chunk, so it might be that. Either way, Torches make no practical difference to your Screamer count in my experience, and I use a LOT of them.

 
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