Stewer

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-03

Overview

The stewer component manages the cooking lifecycle of stew pot entities, including tracking cooking progress, spoilage after cooking completes, and product harvest. It integrates with container to monitor ingredient state, perishable to manage spoil timers, and stackable to set product stack sizes. The component automatically adds/removes tags (stewer, readytocook, donecooking) and handles persistent state via OnSave/OnLoad for cross-session cooking.

Usage example

local inst = CreateEntity()
inst:AddComponent("stewer")
-- Populate container with ingredients, then:
if inst.components.stewer:CanCook() then
    inst.components.stewer:StartCooking(doer)
end
-- After cooking finishes, harvest the product:
inst.components.stewer:Harvest(harvester)

Dependencies & tags

Components used: container, perishable, stackable, inventory, physics, playeractionpicker (indirect via events)
Tags added: stewer, readytocook (temporary), donecooking (temporary)

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
done	boolean or nil	nil	Whether cooking has completed (true), is in progress (nil), or not started (nil).
targettime	number or nil	nil	Absolute game time when cooking/spoil finishes.
product	string or nil	nil	Prefab name of the cooked product.
product_spoilage	number or nil	nil	Multiplier applied to final product spoilage.
spoiltime	number or nil	nil	Total spoil time for the product (seconds).
spoiledproduct	string	"spoiled_food"	Prefab name used for spoiled products.
cooktimemult	number	1	Multiplier applied to base cooking time.
chef_id	string or nil	nil	User ID of the chef who started cooking.
ingredient_prefabs	table or nil	nil	List of ingredient prefab names used.
task	task or nil	nil	Scheduled task for cooking/spoil timer.

Main functions

IsDone()

• Description: Checks if cooking has completed (product generated, regardless of spoilage state).
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: boolean – true if cooking finished, false otherwise.

IsSpoiling()

• Description: Checks if the stew is in the spoilage phase (cooking done, but product hasn't been harvested and spoilage timer is active).
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: boolean – true if spoiling, false otherwise.

IsCooking()

• Description: Checks if the stew is actively cooking (cooking timer running).
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: boolean – true if cooking, false otherwise.

GetTimeToCook()

• Description: Returns remaining time until cooking finishes.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: number – Seconds until cooking completes (0 if not cooking).

GetTimeToSpoil()

• Description: Returns remaining time until the cooked product spoils.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: number – Seconds until spoilage (0 if not spoiling).

CanCook()

• Description: Checks if the pot is full and closed, and thus can begin cooking.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: boolean – true if conditions are met.

StartCooking(doer)

• Description: Begins the cooking process using ingredients in the container, calculates product and spoilage, and schedules cooking completion.
• Parameters: doer (entity) – Player or entity initiating cooking; used to assign chef ID and learn cookbook recipes.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Does nothing if targettime is already set (cooking already in progress).

StopCooking(reason)

• Description: Cancels active cooking/spoil timers and resets internal state.
• Parameters: reason (string) – e.g., "fire" triggers product spawn on fire-out.
• Returns: Nothing.

Harvest(harvester)

• Description: Transfers the cooked product to the harvester, applies spoilage percentage, and triggers recipe learning if applicable.
• Parameters: harvester (entity) – Entity receiving the product.
• Returns: boolean – true if product was harvested successfully.

LongUpdate(dt)

• Description: Adjusts timers for frame-rate lag or pause; reschedules dostew/dospoil tasks to maintain accuracy across updates.
• Parameters: dt (number) – Time delta in seconds.
• Returns: Nothing.

GetDebugString()

• Description: Returns a formatted string for debugging (e.g., product name, status, timers, spoilage).
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: string – Human-readable status description.

GetRecipeForProduct()

• Description: Returns the cooking recipe associated with the current product.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: table – Recipe data from cooking.lua, or nil.

OnRemoveFromEntity()

• Description: Cleans up tags and state when the component is removed from an entity.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnSave()

• Description: Captures current state for world persistence.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: table – State data including product, timers, chef info, and remaining time.

OnLoad(data)

• Description: Restores state from saved data.
• Parameters: data (table) – State data from OnSave.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:
  • itemget – Triggers tag check (readytocook).
  • onclose – Triggers tag check (readytocook).
  • itemlose – Removes readytocook tag.
  • onopen – Removes readytocook tag.
• Pushes:
  • perishchange (indirectly via perishable:SetPercent)
  • stacksizechange (indirectly via stackable:SetStackSize)
  • learncookbookrecipe (if chef harvests their own dish and recipe is in cookbook)