Cloister

[Pico 22]

I finally managed to get the cloister working but after a while I noticed that no nuns ever visited it. Out of curiosity I followed one with empty meditation column. She went to the farthest corner of the map and stood there for a while, staring into nothingness; her column filled up but when she finally returned to her nunnery, two thirds were already gone.

Please excuse me, sister, but - what the hell was this about?

[Pico 22]

Originally posted by Tommy_Cooker:

... I'm still getting a 'villager path blocked' message every time a monk wants to go there (even though they do apparently get there somehow because they do fill their cloister bar).

Same here; by now I just disregard the message. I also noticed that the cloister functions perfectly while in blueprint - problems begin after it is built. This must be a game problem.

[Boru9]

Originally posted by Tommy_Cooker:

I have been tweaking my cloister for hours with every combination of doors and surrounding buildings/no surrounding buildings I can think of and I'm still getting a 'villager path blocked' message every time a monk wants to go there (even though they do apparently get there somehow because they do fill their cloister bar).

I'll share what I found out about cloisters to help others make them work: Your religious folk need access both to the green yard in the middle as well as to the paved square around it. Currently, the game allows you to build a cloister without a cloister entrance if there is another door, but that won't let them enter the paved bit. So, the design that currently works is as follows:
Side one: Other monastery buildings (dorms, chapel, etc.) with doors leading both out into the world as well as into the cloister. These doors have to be attached to the respective building parts and not the the cloister building part.
Other sides: Cloister passages and corners (windows facing inwards, full walls facing the world outside) with at least one cloister entrance - green arrow pointing out, from the cloister yard into the paved area of the cloister passages.

This way, they enter the other buildings (such as dorms, chapel, etc.) and go through the door(s) into the cloister yard. They can then continue into the cloister passages if they like and there are no more red arrows.

Also, (and I haven't tested this enough, so only use this advice if the above doesn't work), I find that the first available door (big protruding thing that adds a whole little square to the building) is the least buggy in case you run into problems.

[Otkin]

This setup worked for me:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882760145

The front door is purely decorative and does not give access to anything despite all parts of the monastery being properly attached to each other. I tried to attach doors on both sides of it (the modest facade and the gate are parts of the chapel) but it did not work.

I also learned that the door from another building must not be obstructed by anything, i.e. it is not possible to have a door inside the cloister gallery.

It also seems that additions can mess up the doors and access to various facilities. I ended up building additional doors in other areas to provide access to refractory and dorms.

[Pico 22]

Originally posted by Boru9:

I'll share what I found out about cloisters ...

That works. I was able to repair my old monastery and to build my nunnery right. Thanks!

On the other hand, it may be working too well. I noticed that my monks started visiting my nun's cloister. They say it's just for meditation.

[Rogue]

BUG TIP: Make sure to check your monastery building detail list. I was showing 3 Cloisters in the list but only 1 was built. Once i deleted the 2 non-built, my monks and nuns started partying. Hope this help

[Pico 22]

Originally posted by Rogue:

BUG TIP: Make sure to check your monastery building detail list. I was showing 3 Cloisters in the list but only 1 was built. Once i deleted the 2 non-built, my monks and nuns started partying. Hope this help

An excellent tip. I checked my legacy monastery and it had 3 cloisters as well. After I deleted the 2 nonexistent ones nuns finally started to meditate in the real one. Great!

[V8Hilux]

I've got a cloister attached to a Kitchen but regardless of what I do to it following pretty much all the tips in this thread at one point or another I get the blocked path message and on the rare occasion they find their way inside they can't get back out and just stay there as all their needs go red and the only way to get them out is to demolish a section.
I will keep at it and I have sympathy given this is still technically early access, but the cloister is by far the most frustrating part of the game to date.

[28rommel]

Just curious ... has this issue been passed-on to the developers to fix?

[DevilPanda]

Originally posted by 28rommel:

Just curious ... has this issue been passed-on to the developers to fix?

I don't believe there is anything for them to fix, all of mine work perfectly normal. While the Dev's could do a better job of explaining how the cloister works this is a user generated issue.

[ohiorice]

Any of you have a link to a good youtube video on how all this pulls together. I've grown frustrated trying to find one :-)

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by Minotorious:

What the OP shows is the historically inaccurate cloister alone in the middle of nowhere.

You can blame that on the developers. I have tried making a cloistered wing type area multiple times and it kept not counting because not all buildings were tagged as cloisters so it would not allow the build function because it was not considered enclosed.

So the best way to make a cloistered area is to make it separate.

[28rommel]

Originally posted by ohiorice:

Any of you have a link to a good youtube video on how all this pulls together. I've grown frustrated trying to find one :-)

I have not seen one. Would be nice to get one directly from the developers, once they feel they have completed with the small tweaks/adjustments they have made to better get the cloister to work. (From recent-ish YouTube videos where users are playing, some have commented that the developers have made some changes.)

For example, the developers team for Railway Empire would sometimes produce videos to better explain some of the "more complicated" features of the game.

[Wuik]

Hello,
I really don't understand actually the trouble about the cloister ???
After the update ...ok ...the time to test new system to understand how that 's work ...
Before ,Me too i have put some screenshots to try to understand ..
since i have understood how the sub-building works, i don't have any trouble in my games..
But now ???that is really simple to build a cloister without any problems...

[Pico 22]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2946085126
I just finished building this monastery. There are no changes in the way it should be built after the last update(s).

In short, you need at least one entrance (doorway) from the outside to the buildings around the cloister, one entrance from these buildings to the covered part of the cloister and one exit from the covered to the open (middle) part.
In the snapshot above you can see two (of four) exits to the open part, one of the inner entrances and two outside ones (the third is through the church); each of the latter is coupled with an inside one (hidden from view). I made these two as shortcuts to the vineyard and apiaries - they are not necessary for the cloister to function.

[[BLK] Telu]

I made a guide explaining how to make a cloister (Based of DevilPanda tips). Since it seem to be the less obvious thing in this game, knowing than everything than we teach you about monastery (Having a room who have door doesn't apply with the cloister since you can't attach a door to it) doesn't work the same way for the cloister.

I tried the way with a hall part of the cloister, but it didn't work. The only way i found was to get the hall owned by another building of the monastery.

An easy fix of this issue will be to get a quest teaching you how to build it when you get the quest chain for the monastery.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3027386087