Manipulating savegame files and using the boat motor

[gshinks]

So the save games for Stranded Deep are pretty easy to manipulate as it turns out. Each item type in the world has a unique 32-digit GUID referenced in the Save.json in it's "prefab" property. You can either obtain that GUID from the savegame file or, if one were so inclined, they could probably obtain them from the game's .assets files. There is also a "reference" property for any item that has been spawned that provides a unique GUID for that particular instance of the item.

Other properties are available for each item type and vary based on the item's nature. Therefore, converting a coconut, let's say, into a speargun, will not work. On the other hand converting an item of a particular type such as a spear into another weapon such as an axe works well. This can be very finicky and extreme failures have resulted in loading the savegame into the middle of the ocean, at night, with no islands in sight. I suggest you backup your save file before messing around with it.

By the way, the speargun is not quite refined which explains probably why it is not in the game. I suggest you shoot it at a shark and find out for yourself; it's quite fun.

Other things you can easily change at the end of the save file are the time of day (a 24-hour decimal format... ie. 17.50000 = 5:30pm), health, food, and water levels (max 5000), and also whether of not your character possess flippers and/or goggles.

Finally, something that I'm sure will interest the community and I haven't completely figured out yet is assembling the boat motor and placing it on a raft. I was able to give myself the parts of the boat motor (engine, fuel tank, carburettor, and propeller) and various other combinations of materials, but was not able to actually craft the boat motor. It is however possible to manipulate the savegame file to give you the completed boat motor and put it into "placement mode". Having done this in the vicinity of a constructed foundation raft, the motor snaps nicely into place on any of the four sides of the raft (I'm ashamed to admit I did become aroused at the sight), HOWEVER, clicking as you would to place any other construction object does not attach the motor to the raft and you are just stuck carrying it around. This either means I have not figured it out yet in which case hopefully someone else will, or, the most likely answer is it is not properly implemented in the game yet, but clearly has been planned for the future.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=382083202

A sidenote discovery is pressing both mouse buttons together gives an object a shove. Enjoy.

[Morgan Freeman]

interesting...

[Crazy Ivan]

"It is however possible to manipulate the savegame file to give you the completed boat motor"

So how does one do this? What needs to be added to the save.json to do this?

[Sistermatic™]

Hey, great ideas. Won't need to actually play. Just win with json!!

[🚀 Mars]

Originally posted by Crazy Ivan:

"It is however possible to manipulate the savegame file to give you the completed boat motor"

So how does one do this? What needs to be added to the save.json to do this?

It is easier to manipulate the crafting files to make things like the boat motor cheaper in materials. I suggest looking at the "Mods" sub forum.

[Crazy Ivan]

I actually have everything but the propeller and had read that the motor could not be assembled yet so I just wanted to know how to assemble it for when I found the propeller, however I saw a youtube clip where the guy was able to assemble it through the crafting menu so all is good,

@SisterMatic If you don’t feel like an A$$ you should as you had no idea what was going on yet you had to open your mouth.

[d4n0m4ly]

the motor CAN be assebled. got the last part yesterday.

[gshinks]

This post was prior to the motor being able to be crafted.

[Alice_Because]

Quick question: how exactly would I edit a save file to remove a whale stuck in my island?

[gshinks]

Here is an example of a whale entity in my save file:

<code>
,"[5]WHALE(Clone)":{"name":"WHALE(Clone)","reference":"9c6d4f9d-a669-4d4c-93aa-65bb361519f8","prefab":"9fa22c4e-43fc-406e-b995-5561e6690ab9","displayName":"Humpback Whale","healthPoints":"~f0","GameObject":{"active":true,"layer":"InteractiveAnimals_Collision","tag":"Untagged"},"Transform":{"localPosition":{"x":"~f-12.93072","y":"~f121.3231","z":"~f86.01285"},"localRotation":{"x":"~f-0.01445033","y":"~f0.9838076","z":"~f0.1085674","w":"~f0.14187"},"localScale":{"x":"~f1","y":"~f0.9999995","z":"~f1"}},"Rigidbody":{"isKinematic":true,"useGravity":true,"useConeFriction":true,"position":{"x":"~f0","y":"~f0","z":"~f0"},"rotation":{"x":"~f0","y":"~f0","z":"~f0","w":"~f1"},"velocity":{"x":"~f0","y":"~f0","z":"~f0"},"angularVelocity":{"x":"~f0","y":"~f0","z":"~f0"},"sleepVelocity":"~f0.15","sleepAngularVelocity":"~f0.14","maxAngularVelocity":"~f7","mass":"~f1","centerOfMass":{"x":"~f-3.814697E-06","y":"~f0","z":"~f-0.02999878"},"drag":"~f0","angularDrag":"~f0.05","inertiaTensor":{"x":"~f42.01563","y":"~f42.01564","z":"~f3.511255"},"inertiaTensorRotation":{"x":"~f0","y":"~f0","z":"~f0","w":"~f1"},"freezeRotation":false,"constraints":"None","interpolation":"None","detectCollisions":true,"collisionDetectionMode":"Discrete","solverIterationCount":"~i6"},"Colliders":{"[0]CapsuleCollider":{"enabled":true,"isTrigger":false,"center":{"x":"~f0","y":"~f0","z":"~f-0.03"},"radius":"~f2.65","height":"~f21.98","direction":"~i2"}},"batched":true,"durabilityPoints":"~f0","isInteractive":false,"canUse":false,"canUseOnObjects":false,"canDamage":false,"canStab":false,"isStabbed":false}
</code>

The whale should disappear if you remove an entire block such as this. Just search in your text editor for "whale". There's a couple problems: you'll probably have multiple whales in there and without knowing which one it is you'll have to remove every one. Also, when removing the code block, you need to make sure you remove the same amount of left brackets ({) as right braackets (}) otherwise it will break the whole file.

[tiermann]

I have a working Save Editor I'm working on that can add/remove and modify stats on inventory items, as well as map and teleport, remove whales/sharks, boost fires and motors, and other stuff. http://steamcommunity.com/app/313120/discussions/2/606068060831887476/

Has anyone had luck adding an item to a node directly (not in inventory), like a Life Raft or Shipwreck, or anything really? If so, what was the trick, because mine just get wiped when the game loads. I'd like to be able to add the ability to spawn items at your current location on the Save Editor.

[🚀 Mars]

Originally posted by Basilo1146:

Quick question: how exactly would I edit a save file to remove a whale stuck in my island?

An alternative to deleting whales manually or via tiermann's save editor is to make them Flying Whales. I wrote a mod that simply makes whales swim(fly) from 25-35 meters above sea level. Should keep them from stealing your stuff, but still allow you to enjoy their company :P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh9SSPSxAM8
http://steamcommunity.com/app/313120/discussions/2/611698195155456806/

[Alice_Because]

Would it not be possible to just change the coordinates in the "localPosition" field?

[gshinks]

I could not for the life of me figure out how to manipulate the coordinates of objects. I played with it for hours and any of the changes I made had no effect.

[VACCED]

I have a pretty brief tutorial on my Youtube channel on how to edit JSON files for Stranded Deep if anyone needs help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A30GXLeSQBg

[garyp156]

Thanks jacob. Now I'm going to buy the game. I always like to read posts before I buy. This game looks worth the money.