Effects of Playfield.yaml.bin

[Alpha Gerbil]

My inquiry about this file is in terms of custom playfield generation and editting. In the previous Alphas, I spent countless hours making minor changes to the playfield.yaml files to make entirely new planets for the fun of it. So when launching a new game in Alpha 11, I found it interesting to find this file. Has anyone discovered the function of this file or is it even necessary?

If an experienced map maker, moderator, or developer could answer this or even just tell me that I do not need to include this file to update previous map files, it would be much appreciated!

[ravien_ff]

They are just cache files created for your save game when you're playing the game. They aren't used in scenarios.

[Colossal Sprout]

Ravien is correct, you need to edit playfield.yaml, not playfield.yaml.bin, and NOT in the save game folder; make a custom scenario and edit it there before starting a new game.

One small exception however, you actually can add things to the playfield.yaml of a space playfield in an existing game, then 'wipe' that playfield with the console in-game to load in the changes. You'll usually only need to wipe POIs, which will avoid deleting any of your own structures. Try this at your own risk of course, and back everything up first if you intend to.

That won't work with planet/moon playfields because POIs only function properly when spawned at world generation, I think any changes are blocked for that reason iirc... I was only trying to add POIs though so I'm not sure about other additions.

[Alpha Gerbil]

Thank you both of you. For my 200 playfield scenarios, this is not needed then.

Originally posted by Colossal Sprout:

That won't work with planet/moon playfields because POIs only function properly when spawned at world generation, I think any changes are blocked for that reason iirc... I was only trying to add POIs though so I'm not sure about other additions.

This is because adding a POI, or planetary vessel, via the in-game console only edits the Cache folder for that playfield, not the original playfield.yaml or playfield_debug.yaml if you use one of those. Therefore, any wipes will revert back to the original playfield.yaml, not the last saved version in the Cache folder.

[Colossal Sprout]

Originally posted by Burnfresh:

This is because adding a POI, or planetary vessel, via the in-game console only edits the Cache folder for that playfield, not the original playfield.yaml or playfield_debug.yaml if you use one of those. Therefore, any wipes will revert back to the original playfield.yaml, not the last saved version in the Cache folder.

I wasn't talking about adding anything via the console; I meant adding code to the playfield.yaml in the save folder, then 'wipe POIs' with the console to force it to load. You're probably right about the latter half though, wipes for planets/moons load from the original scenario files as it doesn't respond to any changes. I did all of this with random default and didn't change the scenario at all.

It was just a 'by the way' anyway; you can add fully-functional POIs to space playfields in an existing save. You can't for planets/moons. It seemed relevant because you were looking in/referring to the save folder and not the scenario one.

[Alpha Gerbil]

Fair point. Scenarios are far easier to edit. When editing a "default" save format, I find that after it was initially loaded, editing anything can be a pain. You'd have to remember to change the playfield.yaml, delete that playfield's folder from the Cache folder, and depending on your server setup, delete the additional folder in the server backup, completely stop the server, start the server to do a complete reload, and then load the playfield. All this to change something as simple tree density on an already loaded planet in A10. When completely terraforming a custom planet to make it look just right, this can take hours.

Addition by Steve154: Also we have to make sure all playfields actually unload on server shut down so that they will be restarted on the reboot. Thank you Steve154

[ravien_ff]

Originally posted by Burnfresh:

Fair point. Scenarios are far easier to edit. When editing a "default" save format, I find that after it was initially loaded, editing anything can be a pain. You'd have to remember to change the playfield.yaml, delete that playfield's folder from the Cache folder, and depending on your server setup, delete the additional folder in the server backup, completely stop the server, start the server to do a complete reload, and then load the playfield. All this to change something as simple tree density on an already loaded planet in A10. When completely terraforming a custom planet to make it look just right, this can take hours.

Addition by Steve154: Also we have to make sure all playfields actually unload on server shut down so that they will be restarted on the reboot. Thank you Steve154

If all you're trying to do is edit a custom planet template for use in a custom scenario, do this:

Start a new game using a test scenario that uses your planet's template (either as static/dynamic files, or playfield.yaml file).
Start a new game in the scenario.
While inside the game, go to your save game folder and open up the playfield.yaml for the planet you're currently on under the templates folder.
Edit the playfield.yaml to change things like lighting and tree density, etc. You can change anything that doesn't have to do with terrain, creature spawns, or POIs.
From in the game, use console command "pf" to reload the playfield and see your changes in real time.

Continue editing the save game's playfield.yaml until you are satisfied with it, then either copy the whole playfield.yaml file back into your scenario folder, or just copy the individual parts of the file to the appropriate playfield files for your scenario.

[Colossal Sprout]

Ah my bad, I didn't know you were working in a dedicated server environment, it's a darn sight easier to do in SP/local files; just enter the wipe command and quit to main menu. When you said you were editing playfields 'just for the fun of it' I guessed you were working locally rather than on a server, apologies for that. And yes, scenarios are far easier to edit, I just experimented with retro-adding stuff a while back... similarly 'just for the fun of it'. Was mainly curious to know what's possible and what isn't.

It was just a 'here's something interesting' anyway, and cheers for the info