Lumber mill point requirements are too low.

[Nerezza]

I've got a few friends who've been playing Multiplayer with me, and we're struggling to get a good session of Spintires in. Primarily, once we've unlocked all garages and watchpoints then the delivery of logs, the part that's supposed to be the most challenging, meaty part of gameplay, takes just a few minutes to complete.

Is there a setting or way to adjust the log point requirements at lumber mills? I've searched thoroughly for one, and found nothing so far.

If there isn't, could this become a thing? I can't imagine it'd be hard to impliment, and I can't imagine a reason not to impliment it.

[Hydrazombie]

I don't believe there is a way to add more lumber mill delivery points, but you can take a mod and decrease it's points that it can deliver from 3 or 4 and make the delivery points 1, this would be a tedious job to find all the addons for certain vehicles and change all the files. then you might not be able to even play multiplayer after modifying the files because the game will say your files differ when you go to the multiplayer lobby.

[Nerezza]

I only play multiplayer with friends, so synchronizing our mod installs is easy enough. I found a large map (Meshera Region) with a single lumber yard, a single garage, 4 or 5 lumber mills spread out far away from the lumber yard, and default (mod) trucks that use medium trailers which carry only 3 log points instead of 4, making long log trailers actually relevant.

So far that's been the most enjoyable map yet. Not only isn't the map made from cloned sections of road stitched together in various ways (like the vanilla maps), but it actually takes some sort of effort and coordination to complete it.

[Malidictus]

I agree. In fact, I posted about rebalancing log numbers recently. To make a long story short, I feel that Short Logs should be worth 2 points, Medium Logs 4 points (as they are) and Long Logs 8 points while Limber Mills should require 12 points in Hardcore Multiplayer. We had a discussion about it so I know not everyone agrees, but that's my general stance on the matter. This should both give a reason to haul Long Logs and more of a reason to haul Medium Logs without changing the dynamic TOO much.

As to maps - I've been beating my head against a Workshop map called "Road Trip" for probably a week now. I don't know if I can necessarily recommend it, but holds your garage, fuel point and lumber mills on one side of the map, your log kiosk on the other and a single long, arduous, malicious road linking the two. That map needs a lot of preparation and accounting for fuel, as well as just plain old time investment. If you're looking for longer maps, at least.

[Nerezza]

I think you've got a good stance on the matter with your point recommendation, but I also think it's a complex thing to balance. My friends and I all came to the conclusion on our own that 12 points would be an ideal number for the lumber mills, but I think that being able to customize this number easily would be an even better solution.

As for the medium and long log points. Either medium log value needs to go down, or long log value needs to go up. This needs to be done no matter if the lumber mill change were to be done.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by Nerezza:

I think you've got a good stance on the matter with your point recommendation, but I also think it's a complex thing to balance. My friends and I all came to the conclusion on our own that 12 points would be an ideal number for the lumber mills, but I think that being able to customize this number easily would be an even better solution.

I agree, and this was brought up last time we talked about it. I'm a proponent of custom difficulty settings, personally. A difficulty I can tweak to my own tastes is always going to be subjectively better for me than difficulty a developer chose for me. I'm of the opinion that the Hardcore game mode itself should be broken down into individual options. Hardcore achievements and map completion can just require a list of options. That's a broader topic, though.

Originally posted by Nerezza:

As for the medium and long log points. Either medium log value needs to go down, or long log value needs to go up. This needs to be done no matter if the lumber mill change were to be done.

Again, I agree. The old Spintires had 2/4/6 for Short/Medium/Long logs. For some reason, MudRunner increased Short Logs to 3 points, meaning a double load of Shorts is worth the same as a load of Longs. I absolutely agree that Long Logs should be worth 8 points, just due to how hard they are to transport. The game's most difficult tasks should also be disproportionately more rewarding. Anything less makes those of us who undertake them feel like fools, and it causes friction with team-mates who don't want the added danger and hassle.

Personally, I'd set Short/Medium/Long logs to 2/4/8.

[reuhaul]

i hvae recently set the log points to short = 2 / medium = 4 / long = 8, its a bit tricky to do as you have to alter files within the "media zip" folder

[Malidictus]

I'm surprised the Workshop doesn't support mods like these. I mean granted - source file modifications are generally not a good idea, but plenty of other games have allowed either direct code injection, exposed config files or at least offered an interface to patch code into.

Incidentally, which files inside the package did you modify and how does this sync over multiplayer?

[reuhaul]

this is how i did it:- i used "7-zip" to exctract the media zip folder to the desk top, then go into "classes" - "trucks" - then look for "load_logs_short" / "load_logs_medium" / "load_logs_long" - open each of these files with "notpad" and find the line "game data manual loads = (number) load points = (number) - change the load points = (number) to whatever you want, i did short logs = 2 / medium logs = 4 / long logs = 8 - once you have cjanged the line save the file and copy it into the original media file - yes to overwrite. then when you restart the game the new totals should come up when you go to load logs.

[Malidictus]

Right. Was just wondering which files you altered. I believe you can hot-swap files directly into an archive. WinRar at least will offer to recompress the archive for you if you make changes, though I'd have to check. 7zip might, as well.

Thanks, I'll have a look through the Media file tomorrow. Any idea how this syncs in a multiplayer game? If my complete guess is correct, the host and clients will trust whatever number of logs you push when you deliver to a Lumber Mill so it might not be necessary to also mod friends you want to play with.

[reuhaul]

no idea about multiplayer, i only play single player

[Kudlaty]

Nerezza touched good topic - map design.

Take first avaiable map in Mudrunner - west side of map is completely useless, all you need to do there is follow actually quite good road on east side all the way up to logs kiosk, load up yourself and go back that road, If your truck is out of fuel... oh look! how convinient! there's fuel station almost right on the path you have to follow... It's like they threw out half, or more, of map by placing siingle logs kiosk. What is reason for existence of logs kiosk in north-west corner, and for fuel station in west ? Also, if you're not a madman that destroys truck on every possible tree you don't even need that second garage.

Second map, former Volcano, changed a lot. I was happy to see this and the new 'gate' thingy just to realise few minutes later It does not block anything... One lumber mill is like 5 minutes away from logs, second actually on other side of island, but still this gate does not alter any of routes... So again, what is reason to have it there ?

I have no idea how other maps look because I'm waiting for friends to play them together because in our case It's bigger challange for me to finish them with their help :D

Back to core of topic.
I agree that Lumber Mill points, or actually logs points are kind of out of balance. Current points makes delivering short logs in multiplayer so much more efficient than anything else. For single player It's medium logs. Longs seem to be there just for fun.

So yeah, I'd totally rebalance points. Maybe 3/4/8 so for 8 objective points you have to make 3, 2 or 1 run. I like Idea of 12 objective points but maybe for multiplayer only. This number means people still can't 'solo' objective in one run but can complete it faster. Multiplayer should be about cooperation :)

Still I'd blame map design and lacking gameplay mechanics for everything bad here ;p

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by reuhaul:

no idea about multiplayer, i only play single player

Sorry for the mild necro, but I ran into this mod. I'm not entirely sure how it accomplishes this, but it seems to replace the standard Long Logs with a modded version worth 8 points. So far, I've not seen any real issues with that.

Honestly, I didn't want to mess with my game's settings for the sake of balance, but it seems like the Workshop as a whole agrees with this change. All of the mod trucks I've tried which could carry Long Logs carry 8 points. This at least allows me to use some of those modded trucks without rendering the vanilla trucks obsolete.

[CaptSean]

Play maps where you have to load your own logs. I believe the Downhill map is like this, and forces you to go to different loading areas with different size loads.

[mud]

want better gameplay. try stating your idea here.

https://forums.focus-home.com/category/138/spintires-mudrunner

[Voimics]

Originally posted by Nerezza:

I've got a few friends who've been playing Multiplayer with me, and we're struggling to get a good session of Spintires in. Primarily, once we've unlocked all garages and watchpoints then the delivery of logs, the part that's supposed to be the most challenging, meaty part of gameplay, takes just a few minutes to complete.

Is there a setting or way to adjust the log point requirements at lumber mills? I've searched thoroughly for one, and found nothing so far.

If there isn't, could this become a thing? I can't imagine it'd be hard to impliment, and I can't imagine a reason not to impliment it.

I found solution-hope you still alive because there is 1.5 years old of your message.
Ok I just added about ten lumbermills trough Spintires Level Editor(that could be find through SpinTiresmod.exe or Standalone ver.) Just resize leng and wide of lumbermill to 1 and duplicate some times(and anytime add a "1" to x or y coordinates. Save and launch. U dont even need to start level again. Thats it