A message to the developers: Possible oversight on recent cave generation changes (+Potential Fix)

[SpoonyBardIV]

This is a message to the developers at Klei, mainly @DiogoW as he is in charge of recent Don't Starve updates.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm aware that I could probably use the bug tracker to report this, but considering that it's not necessarily a bug per se, and the fact that I have largely fixed the issue already, I thought it would be best to say this here.

THE ISSUE:

Some time ago, I submitted a bug report here regarding an issue with cave generation. In my report, I provided a "fix" in the form of removing "PitRoom" from all of the cave tasks. This change was implemented in the recent QoL update. While it does make the cave generation less fragmented, it has some unintended side-effects. Take this image of a cave, generated with the newly-modified generation algorithm;

Now this certainly looks better than the old method, but there are still a couple key issues that persist. One of the side-effects of the new method is the large number of identical Blue Fungus rooms, with an unusual amount of Slurtle Mounds. There can even be tentacles in these rooms, which should not be the case. Notice that there are several of these attached to each branch;

This makes cave terrain variation wildly unbalanced. There is a ton of Blue Fungus terrain, while other biomes are very small or even missing entirely. Which brings me to the second issue with the current generation method. Most biomes are small to nonexistent. Take this screenshot of a Green MushTree Forest for example;

As you can see, only a very small number of tiles are generated for each biome. There are only a handful of Green MushTrees in this entire cave.

MY PROPOSED SOLUTION:

You may be wondering the reason that I have decided to write this. To put it simply, it is because I have created a comprehensive solution that solves all of the above issues, and makes overall cave generation much better. Compare the above screenshot of the entire cave with this one from DST;

Notice how each biome is much more clearly defined. How the Mushtree Forests are larger and distinctly separate from the rest of the cave, rather than being smushed together with the rest of the cave tasks. It's overall a much "cleaner" method of generating caves.

With this in mind, I have spent the last several days attempting to port the (much better) DST cave generation method to DS. The images below are some examples of the results of my efforts;

Notice how the caves now generate in a similar manner to DST, giving much more space for each task/room. The cave branches generate full-fledged biomes now, instead of little fragments.

WHY AM I SHOWING YOU ALL THIS?

While I am aware that you previously stated there would no longer be new updates to DS, it was my hope that this superior cave generation algorithm could be officially implemented into the game, so that everyone may benefit. Even as a simple HotFix patch. It fixes all of the current issues with cave generation, and it even further enhances the cave layout.

As I previously stated, I have already modified my game to achieve this result. I'm aware that it may not be possible, but if there is a chance that this could be implemented, I will gladly upload a ZIP file with the changed files, and instructions on where to place them. That may also serve as a way to test out the new generation method, to ensure it works properly on your end.

If you read this, thank you. And I do apologize if I'm wasting your time.

[MikoFanboy]

hope it won't take another 6 years for us to get a modder become developer to continue fixing bug and adding QoL feature to DS again....

[GuyNamedChris]

You may want to consider possibly uploading your cave generation code as a mod on the steam workshop. I'm sure people would love to try out your version of the caves without having to edit their own files manually.

[SpoonyBardIV]

4 hours ago, GuyNamedChris said:

You may want to consider possibly uploading your cave generation code as a mod on the steam workshop. I'm sure people would love to try out your version of the caves without having to edit their own files manually.

I do plan to do this, but I’m having a bit of trouble getting it to work in non-Hamlet saves. I don’t want to exclude people who don’t own the DLCs.