Drying Racks are VERY Incompatible with Caves - How to Fix?

[JazzyGames]

Posting this here and not in Suggestions/Feedback because I don't really have a good idea for solving this problem. Perhaps some of you do.

Basically, if you have meat drying in the caves it will begin to lose spoilage once acid rain starts. If you are unable to remove the meat from your drying racks within a few minutes (say you're away from base or upstairs), your meat will all spoil on the rack.

This feels like a profound incompatibility for which players have no great options for countering. Are drying racks meant to be used on the surface only? I feel like there could be an intuitive and creative solution to keeping them viable in the caves, but for the life of me I can't think of anything. It makes complete sense that meat on a rack would be affected by acid rain.

Perhaps in the future if and when Klei implements sheltering mechanics they can provide us with a means of safeguarding cave food spoilage with some sort of structure. In the meantime I'd suggest drying upstairs if you have the cave rifts turned on.

[cropo]

The game already features copy/paste recipies that have the opposite seasonal use like the Endothermic firepits, Siesta Lean Ho. Having a drying rack specifically for the caves/acid rain seems like a simple and reasonable solution to me.

[Well-met]

can't you just deploy a umbralla for the racks?

[Popian]

• Track rift time
• Place racks in an accessible area, including areas you will be around
• Put the meats in a container individually and finish drying them later (stacking them will restart the timer (did not test if this is different in beta))

[JazzyGames]

39 minutes ago, Well-met said:

can't you just deploy a umbralla for the racks?

Probably but it means you gotta be around and available for the three days it takes to dry which for me takes away the main convenience of drying racks: that you can go off and do other stuff while meat is drying.

1 hour ago, cropo said:

The game already features copy/paste recipies that have the opposite seasonal use like the Endothermic firepits, Siesta Lean Ho. Having a drying rack specifically for the caves/acid rain seems like a simple and reasonable solution to me.

Maybe some sort of shadowcraft tier cover or tarp you can install on drying racks to shelter them.

[Popian]

I think mindset plays a big part in it. Doing things in bulk can feel more productive, but drying is better done in smaller batches to reduce waste.

Satiety can be filled with raw/cooked meats or stew while jerky tops up health and sanity. Eating off the rack is ideal to save on space, but you can produce a little extra to take on the go.

[JazzyGames]

1 hour ago, Popian said:

I think mindset plays a big part in it. Doing things in bulk can feel more productive, but drying is better done in smaller batches to reduce waste.

I appreciate this mindset and feel like it can be applied to 90% of setups. I generally dont mind doing small batches of food prep as long as the work doesn’t tie me to base for multiple consecutive days, just in case acid rain decides to happen.

I do sincerely think there can be a mechanism added to provide the same versatility of drying racks in caves without limiting my drying time to the few days per season when the rift is closed.

I did not know that you could pause their drying by removing individual pieces from the rack. It’s a cool mechanism but I am hesitant to rely on it since it would add a lot of micromanagement to the process that pretty much negates the convenience of drying meat to begin with. I’ll just do my drying upstairs if those are the only options.

Edited July 29, 2025 by JazzyGames

[Bumber64]

Is it even worth drying meat post-rifts? IDK that it would even be worth it to add a rifts item for how few players would do it at that point.

Woby treats is solved by the Woby drying rack. Wurt kelp is done on the surface and is very quick.

We could more generally use a non-portable, permanent umbralla. Umbralla stand. (Should dreadstone pillar not just do this instead?)

Edited July 29, 2025 by Bumber64

[IAmAFurrz]

tbh pillars not stopping acid rain kinda sucks

3 hours ago, Bumber64 said:

Is it even worth drying meat post-rifts? IDK that it would even be worth it to add a rifts item for how few players would do it at that point.

well, jazzy anda  lot of people are advocating for jerky compatibility with the bearger bin, and if the jerky was compatible then i legit think its good along with the drying rack buff. its very cheap, 1 time set up, no waiting around, good stats, and you get them very fast but you can also leave them for a bit since they dont spoil that fast. its good stats for the little amount of time you spend on setting up racks/putting meat or kelp up

Edited July 29, 2025 by IAmAFurrz

[BeeClops]

tbh sounds like an oversight tho maybe not, I guess leaving an open umbralla over your racks isn't the worst thing in the world but yeah I also feel like you shouldn't come back to spoiled meat on your racks 

[Cassielu]

To be honest, I think it's very reasonable and interesting to let the food hanging on the Drying Rack be corroded by acid rain, and I hope they won't change this.

Perhaps could be add a canopy structure or some thing, just made of some common materials, and then work like the force field of a shadow umbrella to protect Drying racks from rain, so that you can continue to use them in both normal rain and acid rain. Or something with some kind of moon energy could turn the acid rain into ordinary rain near it, just like a lunar mushroom forest

[konijnenmoed]

Isn't this a "problem" with iceboxes, too? Sure, you can take out stuff, but I always use an Umbralla for it anyway.

[00petar00]

Pillars should get update so that we can make a giant umbrella that covers the same area that pillars normally do but also protects from acid rain.

[Pe Dabliu]

Idk, I don't see them not really working well in the caves as an issue, sounds like a fair trade off. Only thing I could think of for caves, going along with the "counterparts" idea with caves and surface, is adding some kinda of new conservation method that works well for the caves, like some kinda of mold aging thing or whatever, but that would just be suggesting a whole new mechanic rather than a fix for drying rack in caves, wich again, I don't think needs a fix.

[Well-met]

the solution is literally the umbralla and y'all acting like it doesn't befit your expectations

[hoxi]

Not the most ideal but, once they make acid rain not affect things in areas with no acid rain (lunar grotto and archives), at least that'll be a permanently safe option against acid rain (but not rain).

[JazzyGames]

2 hours ago, Well-met said:

the solution is literally the umbralla and y'all acting like it doesn't befit your expectations

I’ll say it one more time. Having to babysit drying racks for 3+ days with an umbralla defeats the whole convenience of using drying racks to begin with. It’s not a solution that makes sense to me unless I happen to be in my base when acid rain starts. The issue is a bit more nuanced than that.

 

[Cheggf]

I don't like how it's nerfing something that isn't even super good. Drying racks and basing in the caves are great, but they're not exactly the peak of efficiency. Maybe there could be an Umbralla Holder that keeps the Umbralla stationary but it lasts way longer.

[lowercase skye]

1 hour ago, JazzyGames said:

Having to babysit drying racks for 3+ days with an umbralla defeats the whole convenience of using drying racks to begin with. It’s not a solution that makes sense to me unless I happen to be in my base when acid rain starts. The issue is a bit more nuanced than that.

To be fair, a full durability umbralla lasts 15 whole days, you wouldn't need to "babysit" it. All you'd need to do is toggle it on when you're about to leave the base with jerky drying, and occasionally check if it needs repairing. It's definitely an inconvenience that wasn't there before, but I'd honestly even consider doing it for spring rain on the surface after realizing this is an option.

[cybers2001]

5 hours ago, lowercase skye said:

To be fair, a full durability umbralla lasts 15 whole days, you wouldn't need to "babysit" it. All you'd need to do is toggle it on when you're about to leave the base with jerky drying, and occasionally check if it needs repairing. It's definitely an inconvenience that wasn't there before, but I'd honestly even consider doing it for spring rain on the surface after realizing this is an option.

Interesting, I did not realize it can last that long while active. Does heavily encourage you to design your drying racks within the coverage area of an umbralla, though.

[JazzyGames]

I had no idea that a deployed umbralla could last for an entire season lol. In that case yeah it could totally fill that purpose of providing stationary acid rain protection.

Edited July 30, 2025 by JazzyGames

[Bumber64]

Does acid rain even affect drying racks if you don't get near them during the rain?

IDK that longupdate can check if it had rained during that time. It probably also assumes if you visit during rain that it was raining the entire time the rack was unloaded.

Edited July 30, 2025 by Bumber64

[Curly Bill]

I like the idea of drying racks being only above ground, where they get sunlight; but I think gameplay wise people might not want this. I like certain mechanics that make me swap between above and below ground. Like how I use mushroom stumps underground because down there, the winter wont kill them off

[NSAiswatchingus]

4 hours ago, Curly Bill said:

I like the idea of drying racks being only above ground, where they get sunlight; but I think gameplay wise people might not want this. I like certain mechanics that make me swap between above and below ground. Like how I use mushroom stumps underground because down there, the winter wont kill them off

I had to look it up when I first saw this thread because I too assumed the dampness of a cave would make drying meats more difficult, but apparently cave meat drying has been the go-to for humanity for awhile. The stable temperature and cooler air helps the actual preservation process more I guess.

[Frosty_Mentos]

If Umbralla protects them I don't see needed changes. But unhooking meat seems practical enough ig?