What causes random chunk resets?

S

slicksister

New member
Out of the blue, I've had a chunk reset in my current game.  It was a section of forested wilderness in the wasteland near my base.  I'd clear cut the trees to allow safer gyrocopter approaches.  But on returning to base just now, it now is covered with trees again.  How does that happen???

I've searched the forums and people have mentioned two preference variables, but they are both set to -1 in my game.

Code: 
<property name="MaxChunkAge"					value="-1"/>				<!-- The number of in-game days which must pass since visiting a chunk before it will reset to its original state if not revisited or protected (e.g. by a land claim or bedroll being in close proximity). -->

<property name="SaveDataLimit"					value="-1"/>				<!-- The maximum disk space allowance for each saved game in megabytes (MB). Saved chunks may be forceably reset to their original states to free up space when this limit is reached. Negative values disable the limit. -->
 
There is an option in the game settings menu for chunk reset. But on default it´s turned off, check your settings maybe. But that -1 value should mean it´s turned off if i understand that correctly, so you might have a bug.

 
Or might be on a host like G-Portal that overrides the settings in the config file.

Need a log to tell you more. Details are Pinned in the support forum, which is where I am moving this thread to.

 
I don't want to run a server.  I play for an hour or two.  (mostly 2  :) )  Hit escape to paus the game, F1 to open console, type 'sa' to save the game, then alt-tab out do something else.  Later alt-tab back in and resume play.  What's wrong with that?

 
Why are you trying to manually save the game?  Console commands have been known to cause problems at times and this might be your problem.  The game will save automatically as you play (and someone mentioned it does when you hit ESC, though I don't know if that's accurate), so there is no reason to manually save anything.  This isn't a game with autosaves 5+ minutes apart.  This saves things constantly, with a few exceptions for things that save a little less often, but still plenty often that there is no reason to manually save anything.

But it could also be that you're leaving the game running for so long and it's causing lost or corrupted data.

I would suggest playing the game and then closing it (don't manually save) when you are done and then reloading when you want to play again.  Do that for a few days or so and see if you still have problems with chunks resetting.  Note that the best way to test this is on a NEW save as you may have an error in your existing save due to how you've been doing things.  If it still has problems in a new save when you close the game normally between sessions and don't manually save, then it would be something that still needs looked into.  But that may solve your problems.

 
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@Riamus Do you know for a fact that 'sa', the console command to save the game state, causes problems?  Or are you just guessing from the general "console commands have been known to cause problems"?  If the sa command truly causes problems, I'd like the Fun Pimps to acknowledge that.

I realize the game saves continually as one plays.  But there is no way to know when the last time it was saved before I pause the game via <esc>.  That's why I manually save the game to guarantee the game is in a consistent state on-disk before I make a backup.  I also assume that in the paused state, there is no further disk update from the game.  The reason I don't quit the game and restart, is because it takes so long to go thru the game startup process.  (though I have to admit it has improved over the years)

As I have played over an in-game year (currently day 384) and only recently noticed a chunk reset indicates this is a rare occurence.  Restarting and waiting for a random chunk reset to happen again, is just too painful to imagine.  :)

 
slicksister said:
@Riamus Do you know for a fact that 'sa', the console command to save the game state, causes problems?  Or are you just guessing from the general "console commands have been known to cause problems"?  If the sa command truly causes problems, I'd like the Fun Pimps to acknowledge that.

I realize the game saves continually as one plays.  But there is no way to know when the last time it was saved before I pause the game via <esc>.  That's why I manually save the game to guarantee the game is in a consistent state on-disk before I make a backup.  I also assume that in the paused state, there is no further disk update from the game.  The reason I don't quit the game and restart, is because it takes so long to go thru the game startup process.  (though I have to admit it has improved over the years)

As I have played over an in-game year (currently day 384) and only recently noticed a chunk reset indicates this is a rare occurence.  Restarting and waiting for a random chunk reset to happen again, is just too painful to imagine.  :)
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No, it was a general statement about using console commands.  As I said, various commands are known to cause problems, so it's a good idea to test to see if this is related to your issue.  Any time you run a game in a way that is non-standard and you have a problem, it's a good idea to test it by running it in the normal way to see if you still have the problem.  Chunks shouldn't reset automatically if you have that setting disabled unless there is some kind of map corruption or a problem saving.  Since you are doing things differently than normal, you should test it without doing it that way to find out if that is the cause.  If it is, TFP may be able to change something to make it work that way, but even if they can't or don't, you can still play without a problem.  And if it isn't the case, you haven't exactly had to go to a lot of trouble to test it out... so you spend an extra couple of minutes loading the game that you wouldn't normally.  Not really a big deal.  In any case, it may not be possible to find the cause of your problems very easily.  Doing this kind of test would help to verify if that's your problem.  As far as it being rare and being an old save, it may just have gotten corrupted.

If the game takes a long time to start (more than 2-3 minutes), I'd have to guess that you have it installed to HDD instead of SSD.  That will significantly slow down launching the game and cause other performance problems.  If it is on SSD, it should be only 2-3 minutes to load.  A little long, but not exactly a big deal.  Start it loading, grab a snack or drink, and it should be ready when you get back.  :)

And regarding saving, it's constantly saving while playing the game.  Like I said, it isn't like other games that save infrequently.  I think the only thing you might be off slightly with automatic versus manual is your location or vehicle location could be off by a short distance, but not enough to matter.  And that could only happen if you had just been driving around and immediately hit ESC without having stopped and been doing anything else for even a short time.  Otherwise, everything should be current in the automatic saves and a manual save will not really provide additional benefit.

 
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slicksister said:
@Riamus Do you know for a fact that 'sa', the console command to save the game state, causes problems?  Or are you just guessing from the general "console commands have been known to cause problems"?  If the sa command truly causes problems, I'd like the Fun Pimps to acknowledge that.

I realize the game saves continually as one plays.  But there is no way to know when the last time it was saved before I pause the game via <esc>.  That's why I manually save the game to guarantee the game is in a consistent state on-disk before I make a backup.  I also assume that in the paused state, there is no further disk update from the game.  The reason I don't quit the game and restart, is because it takes so long to go thru the game startup process.  (though I have to admit it has improved over the years)

As I have played over an in-game year (currently day 384) and only recently noticed a chunk reset indicates this is a rare occurence.  Restarting and waiting for a random chunk reset to happen again, is just too painful to imagine.  :)
Click to expand...
This makes no sense. 

The game isn't just saving periodically. It is constantly writing the data to the disk as you make changes to the world and your character. The sa command is only there for developers to test specific functions in development with the dev build. It does almost nothing in your case. You may get an extra data dump for vehicle data, which is the only one not being written live. It saves once every three minutes currently.

But sitting there with the game open for hours on end is just wreaking havoc on your system for no reason at all other than you are too lazy to exit the client and fully start it up when you want to play again?

Let me provide you with some data that you might find surprising.  My numbers are likely a bit higher than yours because I have my PC, three 32" monitors, a network switch, and a laptop plugged into my UPS sucking power. This only changes the basline. Mine might be higher as a result of the hardware. It isn't going to have an effect on the gap between the different modes.

Idle without the game client even open, I am using 370-386 Watts of power. CPU is at 10-15% utilization. GPU is barely noticeable.

With the client open and me active in the game, I am using 670-702 Watts of power. CPU is at 40% utilization, and GPU is at 99%.

I tab out of the game and go to other things. I am still using 700 Watts of power. CPU is at 35% utilization, and the GPU is at 98%.

So basically, when you are sitting there letting the game be idle and not doing anything, you are still wasting power, and putting the full stress of playing the game on your computer. You might as well be farming bitcoin. Also note that the CPU and RAM being used by the client are not available to other programs on your system. I wonder how much you pay for electricity where you are at. It must be damn cheap to be able to not care about usage at all.

I'm not going to call you stupid for doing this, but what you are doing is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard of. Why people would think that it is somehow desirable to do what you are doing is beyond comprehension. You are even doing it intentionally. And leaving the game in an abnormal state like that, is most likely the cause of your problems. A game is designed to be played. Not to be put on pause for the better part of a day.

 
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