How to get a chunk to reload?

[Thom Blair III]

I have a liquid block that is not flowing. I have noticed that if I go far enough away from the area and then return, the chunk will reload and the liquid will begin flowing.

How far do I need to run before returning?

[entuland]

Server lag or heavy areas are most likely the cause.

It may start flowing straight away if the server replies in a timely manner or if whatever is going on around reduces its load (mobs, lights, interactables of any sort including chests and bookshelves, machinery, other flowing liquids, pets, crops - all of this adds to the lag and may push liquid expasion down the line).

Reloading the chunk may help to trigger it, yep, but it's not technically necessary.

Keep an eye on the data dumped by /chunkdebug, it may help you understand better when the game is freaking out for some reason - more of an art than a well defined thing for me. Trust your gut feeling :P

[Thom Blair III]

Ok, thanks! Just to make sure I understand what is happening, I thought a chunk was 16x16x16. So, if I want to test this, could I go up to the top of the world in the sky where nothing is around even in relatiely nearby chunks and try it? Would that be the best place to have fastest reload time?

I'm trying to figure out if the liquid not flowing is due to it having just been part of a blueprint or not, because normally liquids in the same area flow normally.

I just made this guide that revloves around liquids flowing/not flowing.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1408211524
At the end of the guide, the water from the finished blueprint doesn't flow until the chunk reloads.

So, I'm trying to put some specific details in the guide about how to best get the water to flow. That's why I'm wondering.
:)

[entuland]

If you keep an eye on the /chunkdebug output and on the map, you'll notice how moving of a single chunk in any direction will trigger a round of requests, attempting to load a series of chunks around your view radius in the direction you moved to.

Chunks behind you stay loaded a bit longer than that. You can try triggering more frequent unloadings by reducing your view radius, reloading the world for that setting to take effect, and then simply walk away from the area till the chunk gets unloaded (it will become blurry in the map).

The reason for the water not flowing in your specific case may be the (pretty clever) trick you've come up with, overlapping an unfinished cornerstone with a new capture. Sometimes you can "tickle" the game and nudge it to "do the thing" by adding or removing a block in that chunk (in certain cases, such as the transparent walls bug that may happen when excavating exactly to the limit of a chunk / claim, even just "threatening" to remove a block gives a good kick to the rendering and makes the walls to become visible again).

Quirks. Gotta love'em.

[Thom Blair III]

Ok, thank you very much!

[entuland]

Originally posted by Thom Blair III:

Ok, thank you very much!

You're welcome :)

[JoJo]

I moved this topic over to bugs and issues in case anyone else had a problem like this. I'm glad someone was able to help!

[entuland]

Originally posted by pandasinchina:

I moved this topic over to bugs and issues in case anyone else had a problem like this. I'm glad someone was able to help!

:)