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Do seasonal durations vary?


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Hello!

 

I'm trying to put together a spreadsheet to track dates for things like planting and such in Don't starve. However, I've noticed over a lot of games that it seems like the seasons aren't totally invariable in duration. I watch a lot of streams too, and since i started my calendar project, i notice some variation there too. 

 

Is this just sloppy observation on my part, or is there some variation sometimes? Does winter always start on the same day? Is a full "year" always 36 days long?

 

I looked in the wiki but it didn't mention anything like this.

 

Thanks in advance!
 

 

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Hello!

 

I'm trying to put together a spreadsheet to track dates for things like planting and such in Don't starve. However, I've noticed over a lot of games that it seems like the seasons aren't totally invariable in duration. I watch a lot of streams too, and since i started my calendar project, i notice some variation there too. 

 

Is this just sloppy observation on my part, or is there some variation sometimes? Does winter always start on the same day? Is a full "year" always 36 days long?

 

I looked in the wiki but it didn't mention anything like this.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Always the same. On default summer lasts around 21 days, after which winter lasts 15 days.

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Have you made sure when you count down (or is it up) from the last day or winter to the next one, you count on the official end of winter to the official start of next winter, even if the season doesn't look like it has "started" or "ended" but those first and last days in the cycle count? 

 

For instance: 

 

It's easy to know that the official first day of winter (even though it is not snowing and you are not yet freezing,) is day 21. And (again while you are not snowing and freezing) the last day of that first winter cycle is 37. This means the winter cycle is seventeen days (21 to 37 counting the first day as a full day and the last day as a full day.)  So, it's vital to make sure you add the same number of days (20 more) from that end time as the official " new day 1" to check the next winter start and end cycle and count 17 days from literal winter start to finish to see if there is any variation. it's also possible that the "day one" could be the day 38 or the next day from the end of winter day (and I haven't been the type of person who waits for winter to end to count the exact days, see next paragraph,)

 

 

But as any player who's done it four five six or more times can attest, it begins to sneak up on you if you're focusing on other things at that time (like complex base building symmetry or panic room tooth trap route layouts or going up and down from the surface to caves and back.)  

 

The only way to conclude this is steady or varying is to post the actual days and duration to discuss. 

 

So posting literal start and end days as well as duration lengths can show if this is truly a game thing or you've discovered a bug to report. 

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Have you made sure when you count down (or is it up) from the last day or winter to the next one, you count on the official end of winter to the official start of next winter, even if the season doesn't look like it has "started" or "ended" but those first and last days in the cycle count?

 

Easiest way: look for either a redbird (summer) or a snowbird (winter).

 

The music also sounds muffled when it's winter (although you may need good headphones like me to hear that, similar to the early insanity ambiance noises).

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Easiest way: look for either a redbird (summer) or a snowbird (winter).

 

The music also sounds muffled when it's winter (although you may need good headphones like me to hear that, similar to the early insanity ambiance noises).

 

Checking the bunnies and birds, as well as the palette change, was always the key for me.  I've actually started a new game and am logging / detailing the dates.

 

I don't know if this is a bug, or if it is intended. That's really what I'm trying to figure out. 

 

I also wonder if going in caves skewed / used to skew the days/season schedule.

 

I don't know.

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Well, seasons definitely can become skewed. Last night and today,  I did a few years on a new Wilson save just to log and confirm the 36 day long year.

 

However, I have a relatively new Wickerbottom save at day 178, and it's the first day of summer. Redbirds, normal squirrels, summer palette. But summer shouldn't come until day 181 ((5*36) +1).

 

Normally, don't starve years should be 36 days long. Somewhere along the way, summer decided to come early.

 

Now, what I would like to understand are the factors that can cause this. Caves? Death? Normal variation? Or a bug?

 

I'll file this on the bugs page too. But if anyone has any idea, I'd love to hear it.

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Always the same. On default summer lasts around 21 days, after which winter lasts 15 days.

 

Summer lasts 20 days, Winter lasts 16, based on bunny/bird color changes. The first day of the next summer is 1 + (some multiple of 36). Just to confirm it, I played a new Wilson save through a few years and recorded all the dates.

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Another confirmation - tonight watching Stealthgeekery on Twitch - her summer started on day 107. It shouldn't have started until day 109. It's another Wickerbottom save. It's probably coincidence, but all the variation from normal i've seen so far is on Wickerbottom.

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In the source it says summer is 20 days and winter is 15.  I made a table based on that but found that in later years it seemed to be off a few days.  On the wiki it says 20 and 16.  That doesn't always seem to hold true either.  There must be a random element in there somewhere.  Sometimes it's hard to determine the exact day the season changes though since the weather seems to trail it a little.

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I guess it makes sense if you take a year as 35 days instead of 36

 

Well, I don't think so. The numbers are even more off if you take it as 35. Somewhere deep in the mists of time i have a recollection of thinking it was 35. Perhaps it used to be. I don't think it is any longer.

 

Before I posted, I did yet another play through with Wilson, just to verify year length. It seems to be 36 (summer began on day 37).

 

Here is a link to a spreadsheet. You can copy the numbers/equations if you like. You will note that I have a field marked "Year length". That's so that you can easily change from 36 to 35 or whatever other number other than 36. 

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmyMlWp8lsPSdE1xUmpjbllXOElvcV91TG1QemdfRmc#gid=0

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In the source it says summer is 20 days and winter is 15.  I made a table based on that but found that in later years it seemed to be off a few days.  On the wiki it says 20 and 16.  That doesn't always seem to hold true either.  There must be a random element in there somewhere.  Sometimes it's hard to determine the exact day the season changes though since the weather seems to trail it a little.

 

Very cool. Thank you for this information. In all the saves I've observed, it seems to skew early (seasons generally arrive earlier than expected). 

 

Although, all of my data points come from my don't starve game installed on my computer, or from one other person with regards to actual dates observed. There could be small sample bias at work - too few data points.

 

I actually like the randomness. If it isn't that way, I kind of think it should be. :-)

 

One question - when did you read the source for that information? Because I dimly remember a time when I was sure that winter was always over/summer began on day 36. But I haven't actually seen that in a game for at least a month or so.

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Just now.  These two lines in tuning.lua:

        SUMMER_LENGTH = 20,

        WINTER_LENGTH = 15,

 

Interesting. If there were a variable that affected season length, any other guesses where it might be? I browsed through tuning.lua - i'll nose around the others too.

 

Can variables in other files override the variables set in tuning.lua?

 

Good stuff.

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The length isn't in question but what triggers the winter is now under suspicion. Like the Winter Setpiece chest trap, something is causing winter to trigger early and messes the start time up, or something is shortening the summer cycle, but not on the first season. Development is my weak point so I'm in the dark from here on. 

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In case it's not clear, the last day of (the first) winter is always day 37 itself. Please use the link to the Wiki for more info on the Winter cycle if needed.  That written, I still noticed winter coming a day early in Season 3's (the third) winter. 

 

I started a new game last night.  On the morning of day 36 I literally watched the rabbits in my chest turn from Winter to Summer rabbits.  That would seem to corroborate 15 days for Winter (21-35) found in tuning.lua.  However, in the past I could have sworn the last day of Winter was 36 or 37.

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I started a new game last night.  On the morning of day 36 I literally watched the rabbits in my chest turn from Winter to Summer rabbits.

 

And tonight in that same game the rabbits turned on day 72 which is a day later than it should have been.  Unfortunately I didn't track when Winter started so I don't know if the second Summer was a day longer or the second Winter was.

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