Meadow FAQ [UPDATED~]

[Toni 'Bō' Jones]

Last updated: February 2023

Hello & welcome! ~ Many things have changed since the original Meadow release at the end of October 2016, but one thing remained intact: your never-ending curiosity. So this 'little' read is for you: whether you're a baby badger or a seasoned GOAT, you will find most desired questions answered here. Please, consider reading till the end before posting new thread - it may save everyone's time.

What is Meadow? How to play?

A forum in disguise. The social platform in gaming clothes. Unique multiplayer sandbox. Pick the animal, explore the wild open-world, communicate with other players by using body language, emotes and noises, gather flowers, interact with objects, role-play, and most importantly, have fun!

Survival Mode? I like to suffer.

Not there. It is a social project, exploration-based type of experience, walking/running animal simulator if you wish. There's no thing such as collision, no hunting, no need for food or water, no predators. You do not grow into a full-sized ferocious badger. You cannot raise the cubs, as you don't have any. You cannot die. The core idea of Meadow has always been a social interaction and that's what it pretty much is.

Language?

As of now the game supports 19 different languages:

English
French
Italian
German
Spanish
Portuguese-Brazil
Simplified Chinese
Japanese
Russian
Swedish
Dutch
Finnish
Danish
Hungarian
Polish
Arabic
Czech
Slovak
Ukrainian

Follow this topic for a future language update: http://steamcommunity.com/app/486310/discussions/0/133261124636177543/

On the other hand, you don't have to worry much, as you just need some basic knowledge to go through menu. There's neither text chat, nor voice channel: you communicate with others via emotes, commands, body language, noises and screams. You can play with anyone around the world, without knowing (or using) any additional languages! No more lost in translation!

How to unlock animals?

In Meadow, you begin your journey as a badger cub. Having additional games (or comic book) from Shelter series will add more animals to play with. Below the list of the titles of what gives what:

Shelter – Momma Badger
Shelter 2 – Momma Lynx
Paws: A Shelter 2 Game – Lynx cub
Shelter + Shelter 2 + Paws – Bear cub
Symbols: A Meadow comic book - Adult (and a bit old-lookin') Wolf
Shelter 3 - Elephant calf

These animals will be added to your den once you purchase the specific title. You can start your journey as one of them immediately.

Besides, you can unlock five more animals while playing the game. Those are Frog, Rabbit, Goat, Fox, Pheasant and the little cute creature from the latest update - Hedgehog! All you need, apart from love, is yellow crystals. You can find them all across Meadow, hidden high up the mountains and deep down the mysterious caves, or by breaking those black stones (obelisks), thrown around the map here and there.

In order to break those stones, you'll need a group of people (minimum two). The idea is simple: the amount of diamonds displayed on the stone is the amount of people you need. The animal symbol represents that exact animal + amount of people, depending on how many diamonds you see. Once you all set, make a noise (left mouse button) and enjoy the benefits. Pay attention to the animal symbols, as you may confuse badger cub and adult badger, for example, if you are new to the game.

Where's my wolf? I see many people are 'wolfing' around.

Happy you asked! To 'unlock' the wolf you'll need to purchase Symbols: A Meadow comic book. It's the second issue of the series, with a fascinating story about wolves of Meadow world, which will also unlock the desired animal in the game. It's a charmy old-looking fella, some call him `grandpa` or `old man`. You will see :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/942280/Symbols_A_Meadow_comic_book/

I've heard you can play as a bird?

Yes, you definitely can. There's pheasant and you can fly as eagle as well! Read on how to become pheasant above, and as for eagle, right now there are two ways to get it. First, you should be among the top 100 on the leaderboards, and you will be granted a mighty bird (and access to a rare now White Eagle skin). Note: in order to keep eagle and exclusive skin, you'll have to stay among top 100 elite. Once you're out - say bye-bye to birdy.
Worthy to mention: due to the low activity among Meadow players there's a chance for you to get into a top 100, considering you will up your numbers daily (lack of job and real life might also help tremendously), but if you're new and just started, instead of slaving into the grind, do yourself a favor and play it at your own pace, explore, and enjoy your time. You can thank me later.
And the second way? Quite simple: you have to own the bunch of titles, previously known as Shelter Catalogue, which will reward you with aforementioned bird alongside with Bald Eagle skin (looks more awesome than the leaderboard-bound skin, if you ask me), and you will keep the mighty bird forever. Here's the list of everything you need to have:

Games
Shelter + Shelter 2 + Shelter 2: Mountains (DLC) + Paws: A Shelter 2 Game

Sounds
Shelter Soundtrack + Shelter 2 Soundtrack + Shelter 2: Mountains EP + Paws: A Shelter 2 Game Soundtrack + Meadow Soundtrack

Living books
The Lonesome Fog + Fables From the Den

Important note: As of now, you do NOT have to own any of the comic books, The Art of Shelter, or Shelter 3, despite them being a part of the Shelter Bundle.

Steam can be slow at registering new games (internet connection can be a reason for that too), so give this process some time. If, after getting everything listed above you still don't have access to the mighty bird, please, make a topic (support section), or contact any of the moderators. We will look into it.

My eagle is broken! Cannot pick things! Only few emotes!

That's about right. Eagle cannot land, cannot pick flowers/crystals/food and has seven emotes to express their feelings. Such modesty! However, eagle can unlock obelisks/black stones and can help other players to spot things and guide them with full access to all the commands now. Eagle can also interact with the ball. Oh, and that view!

How can I change my animal?

After picking your desired server, you will be in The Den, your very own place, where you can see all the available animals. There you can choose what animal you want to play, customize their names, skins, voices and even size.

There are now symbols in the den screen available, to clarify where the animals are placed. You can turn this function off in the Gameplay Settings menu.

Best animal to travel the map?

It really depends on what you are looking for. Every single creature in Meadow has their own strengths and weaknesses. The frog is jumpy, excellent swimmer, bun bun is a quick runner, goat is a perfect mountain climber. Try them all I say, and find your favorite. Oh, and don't forget to set up a soccer match - tons of fun!

What's essence? Can I spend it?

Essence is the main resource of the game. It displays every time you gather flowers, shards, any food, or rare crystals at the top right corner of your screen. The amount of essence will determine your place on the leaderboards. You cannot really spend it, it's just a score, a number. Will that change, only M&D might tell.

Besides, there are animated action commands you can unlock by collecting essence:

'Sleep' animated action is a natural ability - you have it from the beginning
'Sit' animated action unlocks at 2 000
'Set home' ability unlocks at 5 000
'Wave' animated action unlocks at 9 000
'Drink' animated action unlocks at 15 000
'Play' animated action unlocks at 30 000
'Yawn' animated action (Badger Cub, Lynx Cub, Bear Cub only) unlocks at 50 000
'Howl' animated sound action (Wolf only) unlocks at 50 000
'Mark the spot' (on the map) ability unlocks at 70 000
'Sniff' animated action unlocks at 100 000

Can I collect things?

Yep! There are lots of things to add to your ever-growing collection. Gathering different types of flowers, mushrooms, fruits, berries or fancy crystals will give you the essence I mentioned before. Apart from that you can collect different types of shards that unlock additional animals (yellow), skins (blue), and emotes (pink) for animal you play with. These shards will also provide you additional essence.

Strangers? Who are they? Can I see people names I play with?

Most definitely! Right Alt (or AltGr as equivalent) toggles the ability to see/hide Steam players name-tags around you. You can change it, if you wish, too: Settings - Controls - right arrow symbol * > * at the right bottom of your screen - peek names!

Can I add my new best friends in Meadow ?

Unfortunately, only manually, by using Steam Search Engine and adding them through Steam friend list. There's also a dedicated topic that fellow Meadow players use to find their future awesome friends. Look for it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/486310/discussions/0/305509857564559935/

I have a REALLY cool new idea and I cannot wait to smash that 'Start new discussion' button!

I know right! However, with the amount of pages and topics it will be really hard to track down all of your ideas, and it will be quite sad if Might&Delight will miss the most epic ones. Hence, rather than spamming forum you can post your suggestions in the pinned topic above.
It will at least guarantee your ideas will be noticed and examined by developers.
***
Keep in mind, that for now it is unclear if/when the developers will be looking into new updates as Meadow, which was stated by M&D themselves, is pretty much finished.

I can hear longer calls. How to make them?

These longer calls you hear are unique sound effects you get by owning additional titles from the Shelter series. This time soundtracks:

Shelter Soundtrack – Badger unique sound
Shelter 2 Soundtrack – Lynx unique sound
Shelter 2: Mountains EP – Lynx unique sound
Paws Soundtrack – Lynx cub unique sound
Meadow Soundtrack – Badger cub unique sound

Keep in mind you'll have those longer calls only on badgers and lynxes. The rest of the animals won't have them.

How can I set up the fire? Release butterflies? Invisible skin? D:

Various Shelter titles will give you new different in-game items, abilities and skins.

DLC:

• Shelter 2: Mountains :: Fire 3D emote (spreads light in night time)

Living Books:

• The Lonesome Fog :: Fog 3D emote
  
• Fables From the Den :: Rain&Moon 3D emote

Comic Books:

• Blossom :: counting Flower toy || 2 new skins (Lynx and Lynx cub)
  
• Symbols :: unlocks the Wolf
  
• Trails :: Butterflies 3D emote || new Wolf skin

E-book:

• The Art of Shelter :: 3D-emote-esque sketch skin effect (also known as invisible skin. It's marvelous!) || 12 new 'outlandish' skins for each animal

In addition, there are seasonal 3D emotes: snow and pinky clouds. They are bound to real life European seasons, and appear in-game accordingly.

Entire Shelter Collection for easy access. Look for any desirable title inside:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/13317/Shelter_Bundle/

I have complete Shelter Bundle, but spread on different platforms, such as GOG. Can I have 3D emotes, sounds and animals on Steam?

Unfortunately, you have to own the entire Shelter collection on Steam in order to unlock all the goodies. No turnaround for now. Sorry.

Should I buy the entire Shelter collection before playing Meadow, in order to unlock stuff and enjoy my game?

Nope. Buy at any time, any pace, any amount. Might be even better to start with Meadow and see if you like it or not. You can still enjoy the core game without any additional content, because as they say - likes are free. Lovely and friendly community will be there for you no matter how many titles or games you own.

Oceanic/African/South American server? I want to play!

As of now there are four servers available: Europe, US East, US West and Asia. Look out for best ping (the less amount of ms is better) and join. There's a tiny possibility new servers may be added in the future.

If I quit the game will I lose my progress?

Not really. Your progress saves automatically and you should keep all of your animals, skins, essence, etc unless you had a crash.

Ok, that's a crash! HELP!

If your progression has been lost, you may try your back_up save files. It does not work for everyone, but worth a try.

For Windows users:
- Open your Steam Library
- Right click on Meadow, then Properties
- Click on the Local Files tab, then 'Browse...'
- Go into "Meadow_Data/BackupSaves/"
- Take a backup save from when it last worked for you
- Go to "Meadow_Data/Saves/" and delete the file that is here ("login.dat")
- Paste the file from the backup folder
- Rename it to 'login_backup.dat' (or, you can rename it as login.dat)
- Open Meadow through steam

For Mac users:
Find Meadow in your Steam Library.
- Right-click on the game in steam
- Go to ”Properties”
- Go to ”Local Files”
- Press ”Browse...” tab
- Locate Meadow.app
- Right click: Show Contents
- Find a recent save in BackupSaves
- Delete your login.dat
- Paste your save, rename it login.dat and accept the file name change.

[Thank you, Wraith, for your help]

If it did not help, then mail your output log to: [e-mail]
Do not forget to explain the issue.

Where to find output log:

On Windows:
- Right-click on the game in steam
- Go to ”Properties”
- Go to ”Local Files”
- Press ”Browse...” tab
- Go into ”Meadow_Data”
- The log is called ”output_log.txt”

On OSX:
You'll find it in ~/Library/Logs/Unity/Player.log

On Linux:
In ~/.config/unity3d/Might and Delight/Meadow/Player.log

Attach it to e-mail.

Game doesn't start/extreme lag/low fps/cannot connect to server

If you experience any technical-related issues, such as: FPS drop, lag, no connection, anti-virus problems, can't join server, etc. your best choice is to post within the support section of the forums.

Before posting, take a look at pinned topics there (support section) and see what to do and when. Found your problem? Follow the steps described within. Still not sure? Make a topic or report your case here [e-mail]. When posting, be specific and define the issue, system specifications, attach screens or video if possible, and don't forget the .log file.

Keep in mind that we are all humans and things often did not go as perfectly as we wish. Answering your call may take some time. Patience is a virtue! Thank you for understanding.

But I want everything from scratch. Can I reset my progress?

Yes. You pretty much can. Follow these steps (do not forget to make some copies of your save files, just in case):

Use the backup system to reset your progress. Be MINDFUL about it, do the back up of all your saves, just in case you will change your mind. Also, you most likely will need to turn off the cloud system on Steam since it stores all your progress there. Once the wipe is don, turn it back on and sync with your current date from your PC.

- Go to "Meadow_Data" --> "Saves" folder
- Copy "login.dat" and rename it to "login_backup.dat"
- Open "login_backup.dat" in a text editor, remove all text, and save it
- Open Meadow from Steam library

Done. New game. New story!


I will update/add more questions when things will change. Thank you very much for reading, feel free to ask questions here. I appreciate you all!

And if you still experiencing any issues with Meadow or cannot find answer to your question, please check this Support FAQ as well by Especially K - https://steamcommunity.com/app/486310/discussions/1/3559414588256143466/
It is very helpful and informative!

Last but not least, I will attach these very well-written guides by a fellow beta tester and Meadow enthusiast, Jynn! She did an amazing job by gathering all the information and crafting all the knowledge for you in a most appealing way. Top tier stuff, must read. Deserves all the love and attention.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=779092096
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=774911373
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1180328020

[//emilia]

That's really very helpful, thanks! But...I have one more question, how can I check the leaderboards?

[Toni 'Bō' Jones]

Originally posted by ✮۞ᙡℌḯ†ᕮƘḯ†ṧüᾔᕮ۞✮:

That's really very helpful, thanks! But...I have one more question, how can I check the leaderboards?

Thanks :) You can check the leaderboards at the Den, top left corner of your screen, right below the 'Enter World' button.

[//emilia]

Originally posted by Bō:

Originally posted by ✮۞ᙡℌḯ†ᕮƘḯ†ṧüᾔᕮ۞✮:

That's really very helpful, thanks! But...I have one more question, how can I check the leaderboards?

Thanks :) You can check the leaderboards at the Den, top left corner of your screen, right below the 'Enter World' button.

Ok, got it.Thanks again:P

[Bark™]

How to get the books? I'm kinda struggling to find them

[Jynn]

Originally posted by Skylar 🍀:

How to get the books? I'm kinda struggling to find them

http://store.steampowered.com/app/504790/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/446830/

that's both of the books ^^ in the future if trying to find tricky things like this, do what i do: Go to the store page of one of the games, scroll down until you find on the right-hand side the Developer information and click on it. It'll pull up every item, game or otherwise, by that developer

[ozey's wifey]

Thank you very much for this :)

[Samantha]

I have bitdefender and am unable to disable it without unistalling it... please help

[Toni 'Bō' Jones]

Originally posted by Tempestian:

I have bitdefender and am unable to disable it without unistalling it... please help

I'm afraid you need to uninstall it in order to play the game.

[Samantha]

Originally posted by Bō:

Originally posted by Tempestian:

I have bitdefender and am unable to disable it without unistalling it... please help

I'm afraid you need to uninstall it in order to play the game.

thank you but i wont be doing that, i don't have 500 odd bucks to fix my computer each time something goes wrong with it so while it sucks that I can't play the meadow it will have to go in place of my antivirus, thanks for letting me now :)

[Shemp205⋈]

I know I posted this as a suggestion in the general suggestions thread but since they were featured in paws and shelter 2 will we be getting a playable woolly mammoth and possibly a mammoth calf playable in the game?

[Idle-Empire.com Koko]

Question: can I unlock the animals I get from buying Shelter stuff by collecting golden crystals?

[Ikit claw WARLOCK ENGINEER]

My game did not crash, but i lost all the animals i unlocked and skins , also it says can't connect to steam to give me my lynx, but internet is working fine, what do i do? :c

[Toni 'Bō' Jones]

Originally posted by Koko:

Question: can I unlock the animals I get from buying Shelter stuff by collecting golden crystals?

Hey Koko!

Nope, you cannot unlock Adult Badger, Lynx, baby lyns and bear with crystals. Only by purchasing Shelter games. New animals will be added eventually so those you can unlock with in game resources hopefully :)

[Toni 'Bō' Jones]

Originally posted by Shemp205♡:

I know I posted this as a suggestion in the general suggestions thread but since they were featured in paws and shelter 2 will we be getting a playable woolly mammoth and possibly a mammoth calf playable in the game?

Well, who knows? I would welcome any new animal in Meadow :)

Also, I think we have been playing together yesterday on EU for some time in a big pack at snowy biome for some time ^^

Originally posted by captainLagger H$ 🐾:

My game did not crash, but i lost all the animals i unlocked and skins , also it says can't connect to steam to give me my lynx, but internet is working fine, what do i do? :c

I saw your post within Support section so will reply there as well. Do you have Meadow_Data folder ? Have you followed the steps Jens described in his pinned topic (support forum)? If so and you do not have Data folder it may mean your game isn't installed properly and you may want to re-install it perhaps?

[FunebraCZech]

I got very low FPS. I can smoothly run Shelter 2 30fps+, but here I got 1-3fps. :/

Yes, I changed my settings even on the lowest.

Aspire E1-522
AMD Quad-core A4-5000(1.5GHz)
AMD Radeon HD 8330
4GB DDR3